My school allows most piercings, but they strictly ban tongue piercing because the principal seems to believe that they seriously impede speech and thus get in the way of learning. However, I do know that at least 4 people (out of the 125 in the school) have their tongues pierced. My birthday fell on spring break and so I knew that this was my chance to get my tongue pierced unless I was going to wait until summer.
At A Glance Author Noelani Contact trepidation_mistress@yahoo.com IAM Trepidation When It just happened Artist Zoey Studio Heart & Soul Location Grass Valley, CA I had been wanting my venoms pierced for a long time, but there was never enough spare money to afford the $90 for both of them. My mother had recently borrowed $40 from me and my birthday was coming up in a week, so I decided that if I presented it right I might be able to get at least one of the venoms done. My mother is not adverse to piercing at all, and will sign for me at the piercing shop if I want something done and we have the money for it, so I knew that that would not be an issue. I told my mother that if I could get my venoms done she did not have to repay the money I had loaned her and I would give her $20 more when my grandparents sent 'lunch' money for me. She agreed that I could get one of my venoms, but I would have to wait to get the other.
I had wanted to go straight from school on Thursday (the last day before break) to get me pierced, and she agreed. However, when we got to the studio only one of the piercers was in that day and there were two other girls there who had arrived before us, waiting to get their ears pierced. With the setup and everything for the girls it would be near 45 minutes before I would be able to get pierced. This was a big problem because my mother was already 10 minutes late for work at a relatively new job and she couldn't afford to be an hour late. I was mildly disappointed that I couldn't get pierced that day, but she promised we would go as soon as the shop opened the next day. Of course I was more nervous knowing that I would be going at a certain time than I had been when I had no idea when I would end up pierced.
The next day we left the house at 11:45 to be sure we arrived at Heart & Soul by 12:00(it's rather nice when you live 10 minutes from your piercer). We waited outside the shop door with the other 'freaks' until the piercer got there. It lightened my mood a bit to watch the cars going by in the small-town traffic and laugh at the people who would stare at us from the safety of their cars.
When our piercer got there she apologized for being late, and explained that she had just come from the funeral of one of her customers, which ran a bit late. She unlocked the door and let everyone upstairs.
We did not have to wait and fill out the consent form before I got pierced, because she still had it on file from when we had come in yesterday. We went into the back room with her while she set up all her supplies etc. I had told her the day before that I wanted my venom done at 10 gauge, but today she looked at my tongue and told me that I did not have too much room around my veins and to avoid nicking a vein she would pierce me at 12 ga and I could stretch it up to 10 later. I agreed to this and she asked which side of my tongue I wanted pierced. I had thought about that a bit before, and had no preference about it whatsoever. I told her I didn't care, so she said she would do my left side as it was more comfortable for her to do right handed. She handed me a bit of mouthwash and told me not to spit it out until she said to. It seemed like an eternity before she told me to spit it out, and by the end of it it was tasting like I was gargling with gasoline. She dried o ff my tongue with a bit of gauze before she marked the placement with a bit of ink on a toothpick and asked for my approval. It was very far forward due to veins, but that was all right with me-I like venoms when they're pretty far forward. I told her that was fine and she dried off my tongue again and picked up the clamps. I was expecting the clamps to be very painful, because the only other time they had been used on me was for my vertical labret, and that time they were hell. To my surprise the clamps did not hurt all that much, just a mild pressure like one would expect.
I decided that I would find a new way of dealing with my piercing pain, but I did not acknowledge this decision, it just happened. My mother was standing against the brick wall by the door, where I always stood when watching her get pierced. I just felt as if I was standing there with the rough old bricks against my back and it was someone else in the chair like so many other times, yet I still had the sensations of getting pierced without so much of the pain. Whenever I have been pierced I always avoid looking at the needle, and I did so again this time. My mother always comes along when I get pierced, so she watches to make sure the needle and everything are sterilized and in order, because I just will not look at the needle. The clamps were on my tongue and Zoey (our piercer) told me to take a deep breath in and let it out slowly. From being pierced by her so many times before I knew that on the breath out there would be a needle through my flesh, yet it was still a sur prise. I sort of gasped, but I kept enough self-control not to move my head at all. The piercing was very quick and, apart from the beginning stab, pretty much painless. I felt the jewelry following the needle into my tongue as the needle dropped onto my lap, but still nothing hurt. Zoey screwed on the balls and let me maneuver my tongue back into my mouth and figure out how to hold my tongue so that it fit in my mouth. She then gave me another cup of mouthwash to 'settle down' the piercing. I was very happy to see that no blood was included when I spit out the mouthwash, as my mother is a heavy bleeder and hers had bled a bit when she got the center done a few months back. Zoey went over the aftercare and what to avoid while healing etc. as we went out into the main room of the studio to pay.
I'm pretty sure I was grinning like an idiot until half an hour later when the endorphins wore off and I became a snappy bitch. My mother seemed to understand
and placated my brother when I snapped at him in the store.
I never really noticed if my tongue swelled, though my mother kept asking me if it was swollen. I've been sucking on lavender tea ice cubes, as my mother and I both heal best with lavender tea, and ice was necessary. The taste of the tea is muted a bit when it's frozen, which I am very thankful for, but it still tastes horrible and the aftertaste does not go away.
The past couple of days my tongue has hurt a lot when I first wake up, but once I have some lavender and some food it feels fine. I have been able to eat solid food from the beginning, as I have one whole side of my mouth to use and I can keep everything on the one side. I am very thankful for that, because my metabolism is so fast that I would have seriously hurt myself having to eat so much. During the first two days I was loving ibuprofen, but I found that it makes me seriously dehydrated. Now I only take one every once in a while with lots and lots of water, and everything seems to be doing great. I know I will probably have to wait until summer to get the second one, but I definitely will, and I will probably end up with a center tongue a bit farther back.