At A Glance
Author	Patricia
Contact	superpatzi@hotmail.com
IAM	distortion
When	It just happened

I've always enjoyed body piercing, appreciated tattooing, and excepted other forms of body modification. I came into this world a pink, blond hair, blue-eyed baby and I truly believe that I, like everyone else, was born a canvas. Just about everyone manipulates the way they look, from shifting weight through diet and exercise, or changing their hair colour through the use of hair dye. These are ways in which we change ourselves, both inside and out. My form of transformation occurs in my choice of clothing, hair colouring and body piercing.

For the past couple of years I've wanted my tongue pierced, however my parents' authority thwarted my plans, consequently leaving my tongue ordinary and metal-less.
The year past and more and more people enrolled at my high school were sporting standard, centre tongue piercings. I basically become fed up with them and moved on to other various piercings (which I love to this day). One day I thought about how I wanted a tongue piercing and decided to check out my tongue, staring back at me in the mirror was a disastrous, thick vein. I shrugged it off and realized I couldn't get it pierced anyway.

The thought of getting venoms crossed my mind: they were different, looked great and weren't as typical as the standard centre tongue piercings the whole student body had. I kept the thought in the back of my mind and moved on with my life.

College crept up behind me pretty fast and I was overwhelmed with papers, co-op placement and lack of sleep and expression. The last piercing I got done was my second nipple (my right side) in July and pondered many other piercings I could get in the near future. Venoms stood out for me. I asked my parents four months later, even though I'm 19 years old I still live under my parents' roof and respect their opinions and authority, they surprisingly said yes. I planned on getting my venoms done after my placement was through (in January). During the next month I did as much research as I could on oral piercings. I prepared myself as much as one can, and was anxious to get this accomplished. The wait was excruciating but well worth it. I decided on getting my venoms within my two weeks off (January 26th-February 6th) so I could baby them and avoid conversing with the public as much as I could during the healing period.

January 26th crept up quite nicely; I was ready to make my appointment. I called in and made my appointment for 11:30am. I ate as much as I could all day Sunday and filled my tummy up nicely on Monday morning with chicken. I was extremely nervous, but never looked back. I kept taking trips to the bathroom to look in the mirror to vision myself with my brand new venoms, highly exciting I must say.

I left my house at around 11:15am and thought to myself in the car, wondering what I should think about during the procedure. See, usually I sing a song in my head, or ponder something funny I witnessed to lessen the pain, it works for me everytime. The next moment I was in the waiting room filling out papers, initialing all of the necessities and signing my name and birth date. I chitchatted a bit and was asked, "Do you like a lot of pain?" To tell you the truth, I'm not sure. I enjoy getting piercings but the pain doesn't play a huge factor for me, it's the after-math that does: the pleasure of having a brand new piece of metal in your body to love, take care of and become one with.

I was called in the room in which the procedure will take place. I plopped myself on the chair and got ready to gargle with some antiseptic mouthwash. I bought some Sunday afternoon and gave it a try, it was horrific. It burnt the inside of my cheeks and bottom lip, but whatever-it goes away in a matter of minutes. I gargled until the piercer gave me a nod. I spit it out into the paper-cup and threw it in the garbage (there was a slight back-splash, resulting in the mouthwash on the floor, the piercer laughing at the incident and my cheeks red with embarrassment, oops).

I observed him changing his gloves numerously and preparing the clamp, two barbells and the first needle. I told myself that I would watch him, just to experience the whole procedure.
He took quite the time marking my tongue and checking the arteries. He put a few squares of paper towel on my lap and warned me that my tongue will be tired afterwards. I nodded and smiled. I told him that I've wanted this for a while, so I was pretty prepared.
Once we were happy with the placement he proceeded to put the clamp on the right side of my tongue. For the first few seconds it was uncomfortable, but I adjusted quickly to it. I closed my eyes and thought about spending time with a good friend of mine, I don't remember what was going on in my thoughts but it completely helped. Whenever I experience a bit of pain, I tap my feet and wiggle my nose-my foot was tapping and my nose was wiggling at this point. He slid the barbell in, which went quite nicely, and I took a breather. I put my tongue back in my mouth and swallowed, finally. He told me to gargle again with the mouthwash and so I did-being careful not to spill it all over his floor for the second time. I then said I was ready for the left side to be pierced, and attempted to stick out my tongue, quite difficult indeed. The barbell was so long it was hard to fully stick my tongue out, I had to have him help me do this. So, the clamp went on, my eyes closed shut and the needle went through. Not bad, I can honestly say that my industrial hurt more than this. This was probably due to my preparation, as my industrial wasn't as thought-out as my venoms were. My chin was plastered with saliva, and my lap had drool and a tiny bit of blood on it. I giggled and wiped my chin. He had my gargle one last time, which was more complicated at this point. I got up and looked in the mirror, very cool indeed. I paid the piercer the 80 dollars plus a 10-dollar tip and chitchatted some more with him and his wife. He got out his digital camera and asked if he could take a picture of my new metal, I was glad to. I got a Freezie and headed on home. I flashed my new piercings at my grandma and mother, I really don't know what they thought.

It was very difficult and awkward for me to swallow, the Freezie was bad enough. I tried to drink some cold water, but could only get half a bottle down in a matter of 3 hours. After 4 hours and swallowing is still troublesome, I had a lot of saliva in my mouth: it's thick and uncomfortable.

January 27, 2004:
Last night wasn't as bad as I expected it to be. I had a cup of tomato soup, and then applesauce afterwards, my tummy thanked me. I crawled in bed at around 10:00pm and told myself that I will not going to sleep until I finish a full bottle of cold water. At this point, drinking water and swallowing was so much easier. I took two Advil, which by now I considered my best friend. I assumed that I would have a restless night along with a sore, swollen tongue-I was wrong. I woke up at 2:15am and had to go to the bathroom, due to all that water I drank. My tongue felt featherweight and comfortable. I went back to sleep and woke up again at 6, my tongue was fine. Woke up officially at 9:15am and it still felt good, aside from the bottom of my mouth hurting a bit where the bottom of the barbell rested. My speech is becoming increasingly more coherent as the time passes and I've now accomplished the art of swallowing without difficulty.

To clean my precious piercings I use ½ tsp. of sea salt mixed with lukewarm water, I gargle, spit it out and repeat until the solution is finished. In the morning and at night I gargle with 50% antiseptic mouthwash and 50% water.
I have not yet to try solid food, I will once I am comfortable. Everyone is different, listen to your body!

I cherish my new piercings and am glad I went through with it. I'm actually enjoying the healing period, and can't wait until I can change into shorter barbells (this will happen the last week of February: four weeks from now). If you are considering venoms, or any other types of piercings I suggest researching and asking a lot of questions. You can never be beyond prepared, plus in my opinion the wait is worth it. Remember to appreciate yourself no matter what, don't go through with something unbearable to please or astonish others if you're going to be miserable in the long run. Yes, my body is a canvas, I came into this world with how nature manufactured me, and I'm going to go out with how I transformed myself to display that I've lived life the fullest.

If you have any questions with how my venoms are doing or anything else, feel free to email me or contact me on IAM if you're a member.