So it's 11:30pm here in town. I'm hot as hell and bored. What do I do? Tell you of my latest adventure into piercing, of course!
At A Glance Author Draven Contact sarahluvsceleste@yahoo.com IAM SadisticSarah When It just happened Artist Kathy W. Studio Studio 24 Location Delaware, Ohio So last Sunday, the 11th, I believe, I was at work and blowing cool air down my shirt as we were busy and I was sweating. After a couple minutes of thought, I said to myself, "Hey self! That would be a great spot for a piercing!" I'd been wanting some surface work done anyway, so why the hell not?!
I did some homework on surface barbells between Monday and Tuesday, shopping around on the internet for the best prices for the best jewelry. All in all, if I had ordered the correct jewelry, it would have run me about $100. Good thing I called Kathy. =)
I called my loving piercer on Wednesday and asked her if she had any surface barbells in stock. She doesn't usually because, well, not many people here in this town come to her asking for surface piercings. It seems to be an outlandish request. Anyway. She said she only had 14g 3/8" which seemed really small to me. Trusting her judgement, I decided to go for it. What the hell right? If it rejects, I'll have a smaller scar.
I went in the next day, as I didn't think I had enough money and it was close to closing time when I had called prior. So I drag good 'ol dad downtown and we walk in. I wait for her to finish talking to some guy about tattoo choices and the whole procedure. I've been through it four times. Nothing new there. Once she finishes with him, we start going through jewelry.
I had brought two beads from prior piercings with me, and she was able to cut $20 off the price. I decided to do two piercings instead of one since they were so short in length. I figured it might look quite a bit better.
So we chose out the beads and barbells, just standard beads and the barbells mentioned above, and after a quick stop in the bathroom to pee, I go to her well-known piercing room.
I remove my shirt and pull the straps of my spaghetti strap down, revealing nothing but my bra. Pretty green it was... Anyway. So she has me stand and asks where I want them placed. I show her and she begins measuring, using the calipers on the jewelry then going to my skin and back and forth a couple times.
Once all measured up and marked, I'm told to lay down and my feet are propped up. Such leisure! She puts the yucky goo on my chest and prepares to clamp it... CLAMP! Oh. My. God. Are you kidding?! I'm a chubby girl and when fat is pinched it hurts. I'm assuming it'd be no worse on a skinny person, but damn that was really the worst part!
As the needle went through, it wasn't really a big deal, but having those clamps off was such a relief. It felt so much better. She slid a taper through which was connected to the jewelry, slid the jewelry in, which hurt a lot less than I thought it would, and screwed on the beads. It hurt, but I was okay. I handled it well. But then came the second one.
It was planned higher up than the first and she couldn't get hold of enough skin with the clamps. Uh oh! Freehand it is! She held up my skin with her gloved fingers, giving her more grip, and told me to breathe. I did so. (When she's doing multiple piercings she'll do the first piercing on your third exhale, and the next however-many on your second exhale.)
She began pushing the needle thorough and I'm one of those people who just stop breathing altogether while the needle is sliding through. In this case, the needle didn't make it all the way by the time my air was gone and I muttered for her to just push it. It finally broke skin on the other side and relief settled in. She followed through with the same taper and other barbell and screwed on my beads.
After cleaning me with surgical scrub she asked how I was feeling. Hot, I had to mention, and my head was swirling lightly. I've been known to do that. She got me a sucker and a cool rag and wiped my face off. Dad came in and he could only say "Owie."
I got dressed, paid $97, and we left, being told to come back in a week.
So far it's just red. Red red red. Red around the holes. Only one of them is visibly secreting anything and the top one is way more swollen than the bottom one. She said it would be. I've been leaving it alone besides rinsing it off in the shower and lightly cleaning around the beads with q-tips after my shower. It really sucks though. New piercings itch itch itch. And it doesn't help that my polo work shirt touches it and itches it more! Grr!
Every time I lean my head back or bend my head way over I can feel the tightness in my chest, the jewelry pulling at my skin. I'm getting better at not doing that. Sleeping isn't too bad. I already can't sleep on my right ear, so why not say I can't sleep on my stomach too? It's not really a big deal for me to sleep on my sides since I don't have a full chest at all and they don't get stressed at all.
Aside from that, I really hope they heal. I've had one failed surface piercing but that got knocked around a lot and didn't seem meant to be so I guess these SHOULD do better and I really hope they heal.
Check back to my page for updates/pics and feel free to ask any questions. I know I've had plenty of my own.
Until the next episode: Draven.