I first got my septum pierced at age 19. It was the middle of winter 1998, about a year after my father passed away from a cancer that seemed to spring up from nowhere. It seemed like one week I was graduating and preparing for my future, and the next week I was doing all I could to keep my family together. There was no advance notice, there was no warning.
At A Glance Author Pat Macdonald Contact iamrobots@hotmail.com When N/A Artist Ryan McGuire Studio a friend of a friends room Location cape cod massachusetts I spent the year after my fathers passing working to make ends meet, and trying to be strong for my mother and my little sister. I never truly found my sense of closure in my father's death. I never had my own period of grieving. I couldn't let on that I too was hurting, because I was the one whose shoulder was used to lean on.
I had just started to stretch my ears at this point; I believe my lobes were around 2 gauge. A friend of mine named Ryan had recently started doing piercing's around town, not out of a shop, but from wherever was available. He had helped me along in the stretching of my lobes with a few pointers, and the lending of some of his old jewelry. Our paths crossed one afternoon on Main Street and he told me that he was piercing the septum of a mutual friend at her house later that night. We ended up hanging out for most of the afternoon, and I decided to tag along when it came time for him to meet up with Emily to pierce her septum.
We met up at her house around nine pm, her parents were out at a pool tournament, so she was using the opportunity to get a piercing behind their back (I believe she was 17 at the time). She was nervous and had a few friends over for "support". I remember clearly that that night was one of the coldest I can remember ever feeling. My cigarettes smoked out on the porch that night were hurried, and my cup of coffee I brought was cold halfway through it.
I went in with Emily and Ryan to watch the actual piercing being done. I was impressed with the skill Ryan seemed to posses. He worked swiftly and confidently, I almost felt like I was watching a pro working in a shop. The ring was inserted before I knew it, and Emily was fine until she started bleeding a tiny bit, at that point she bolted to the bathroom and Ryan and I were left to pickup the leftovers. I asked him if he had any more needles, I was suddenly struck with the overwhelming urge to have my own septum done.
I had started stretching my ears to see what it was all about, and was very quickly swept into the addiction of body modification. Even though I was new at it, the stretching of my lobes seemed to balance me out like nothing else did. I don't know if it's a common feeling, but the stretching of my skin seemed to ease the rift I felt in my heart a small bit. And having the actual piercing, as a reminder of that feeling seemed to keep me up. It made me feel whole. I new that the septum piercing would bring with it the same feeling, maybe even more so that what I felt when I had stretched my ears.
It turned out that Ryan had one needle left, in the package. The bad news was that it was a 10-gauge needle, and the only ring he had was 8guage. That meant I would have to pierce it with a needle much bigger than he had ever used on a septum before, bigger even than he liked to use on an ear if possible. The sudden lack of confidence in Ryan made me a little nervous, but I told him I wanted to go through with it anyways, and I wouldn't hold it against him if he ripped my nose to shreds.
When the people sitting in the living room found out there was going to be another piercing, they all wanted to watch. I decided a small audience would be fine, so the four or five of them shuffled in and found a seat. My heart started pumping a little harder when Ryan started putting together what he'd need to do the job. By the time he had the needle and clamp in his hands I was sweating enough to make me take off my sweatshirt. I could feel the adrenaline starting to affect me, and I completely let go of any nervous feelings I was having. I was about to get my first facial piercing, and I didn't want to spoil it by concentrating elsewhere when the needle made its blow.
He poked around in my nose for a few moments, getting a feel for his new canvas. He let a low whistle escape his lips, and he said "shit man, I don't know if there's enough skin here, I don't want to hit bone with this shotgun barrel of a needle".
More uncertainty.
"Its fine, go for it", I couldn't let it get to me, I just let it roll off.
He leaned in and secured the clamp, fumbling a little, trying to find just the right spot, as not to injure me too much. Before I knew it, the hollow needle had passed through without so much as a split seconds hesitation. Ryan echoed my slow exhale of breath, glad that there was no blood. He quickly moved to get the ring in, and the needle out.
The exact moment that the ring touched the fresh wound between my nostrils, my vision erupted in fireworks as I saw the pain that my nose was feeling. He must have ground up against a raw nerve as he forced the ring through the hole in my skin that wasn't quite big enough to let it pass cleanly through. I still to this day believe that he completely forgot about the fact that the ring was bigger than the needle.
I let the residue of the chemicals that had rushed into my mind flow away a little before I tried to stand, better safe than sorry.
I was right; the piercing had every desired effect. It might have actually worked too well. It was such a good counter to the pain that I was feeling at that time, that I've continued using piercing in this way. I've noticed over the past few years, that whenever I'm feeling really bad about something that's happening in my life, I stretch my septum, to the point where my septum was 2 gauge. And on the other end, when I'm doing really good, I often leave my septum ring out for weeks at a time, letting the hole close almost completely at some points. Right now is a good example, I have been engaged for the past year, and having the best times of my life. And I can't remember the last time my septum ring adorned my face. Writing this account of the actual piercing brought to my attention that the piercing is now almost completely closed.