A Present From Me >=)

At A Glance Author Ange Contact ILureI@aol.com Artist Dave? Studio 23rd Body Piercing Location OKC, Oklahoma

I had gotten my eyebrow piercing not long after my eighteenth birthday. I was getting a bit bored with my ears . . . I was practically maxxed out on adornments as far as they were concerned. The pain of my eyebrow piercing was virtually nonexistent. I healed pretty fast and without problems. For a while I was satisfied with that little adornment. But then . . .

Early December of 1999 (Close to my Twentieth birthday) thoughts of piercing something else danced in my head. Piercing what you ask? I didn't know. All I knew is I wanted to feel that same rush I felt when I pierced my brow. I was thinking maybe my nipples . . . but was still unsure. Then, one day at work a female coworker of mine showed me her tongue ring. She told me about her experience. It was then that I decided what I would pierce. Two days later on a Friday (I was waiting for the weekend so I could "heal" before I had to go back to work *snickers*) I headed over to 23rd Body Piercing. That's where I had my brow done. There are other body piercing places in OKC, but most of the people I knew that were into body modification were happy with 23rd. I had yet to hear any complaints (unlike some stuff I've heard about the other places). The people there are nice and the place is extremely clean (reeking of disinfectants).

Well, I went through the regular stuff . . . The guy went through cleaning procedures with me . . . the "don't blame us if you die" thing . . . picking out the jewelry . . . (After some debating, he persuaded me to start off with the 12 gauge. It would eliminate the chance of me tearing if I *played* with it . . . hehe. Oh, sorry. =P) Then of course he took my money . . .

I'd barely walked over to the couch (Ooooo, black leather) when my piercer for that day came out and called my name. I can't for the life of me remember his name but I want to say . . . Dave? Well, in any case . . . He wasn't the same one that had done my brow but he was lovely nonetheless. =)

He lead me into one of the back rooms. I was a bit nervous, but excitement overcame. He told me about the procedure and asked me if I had any questions. I said no. He put a little napkin thing (Like those that the dentist uses) on my lap (in case I slobbered everywhere), then made me rinse with Listerine/Water . . . dried my tongue off with some gauze, marked my tongue . . . Let me have my tongue back for a moment and examine the placement of the dots. I told him that was fine. He made me stick out my tongue again and massaged it with the gauze (Kinda liked that) "Drying" my tongue again . . . Put the clamps on . . . Told me to take a deep breath and he would pierce me on exhale. I'd barely gotten my breath in when I felt the needle go through. It didn't hurt . . . He put in the Barbell and screwed in the ball (that was slightly uncomfortable). And It was done.

It's an odd sensation . . . having a metal rod running through your tongue. I thanked him and made my way out, quite happy with myself. I stopped by the Grocery store on my way home and bought some popsicles for my tongue. When I got home I examined my new friend . . . My tongue was swelling fast, so I made use of those popsicles right away.

Day number 1 . . . The next morning I woke and examined my tongue again after doing the recommended Listerine/Water Rinse. Yuck . . . It looked like I had a huge overgrown slug in my mouth. A bit unsettling to say the least . . . My tongue was slightly sore. And I was hungry . . . I hadn't eaten anything since lunchtime the day before.

Day number 2 . . . My tongue was swollen tight around the barbell . . . I was chewing Ice and sucking popsicles like there was no tomorrow. And STARVING. I contemplated taking out the barbell. Remembering how much it cost, stopped me from doing so. The swelling was pure HELL.

Day 3 . . . Time to go back to work. Did I mention I work on the phones? Yep . . . I have to talk for 8 hours to clients . . . It hurt if I talked for too long . . . not to mention I still sounded like a complete idiot. My th's sounded like f's (Nothing=Nufing). The people at work laughed at me of course. =P (Some of which are now considering getting their tongue pierced, I might add). I found that if I talked REALLY slow and concentrated on my words . . . I could manage to not sound too idiotic. Oh . . . and I was no longer hungry . . . I found you go "numb" after a while . . . Got home examined my tongue . . . Still grossly swollen around that damned barbell. And it had started to ooze blood early that day . . . The coppery taste in my mouth was becoming slightly disgusting . . . Not to mention . . . The tip of my tongue was starting to turn from deep red to purple . . . I was in a panic but REFUSED to take the damned thing out. I'd be damned if I was going to flush $50 down the drain. So I kept telling myself it would be okay . . . My tongue wouldn't fall off as my mother said it would (She still hadn't seen it . . . I'd made sure to say away from my parents house as much as possible).

Day 4 . . . Still swollen . . . The tip of my tongue hurt like a bitch and was really and ugly purple . . . Seems I'd been over doing it on the ice/popsicles . . . I'd gotten ice burn. =( So . . . I quit with the ice, drinking instead TONS of water. It was still "oozing" blood. Still hadn't eaten anything . . . Damn that cheese burger looked good . . .

Day 5 . . . The bleeding had stopped. I could actually talk normally again. "Practice makes perfect." The swelling seemed to be lessening.

Day 6 . . . Wow! I could actually close my mouth without biting on a nasty overgrown tongue! And . . . feeling quite perky I even ate some French fries. =)The purple at the tip of my tongue was quickly fading.

Day 7 . . . Almost back to normal. Woohoo . . . Oh the relief I felt. For a while there, I'd thought I'd have to make a little trip to the doctor's office. *Whew* One less bill . . . And I still had my tongue.

And I actually sat down and VERY SLOWLY ate a meal.

Would I do it again? Mmm . . . I say yes now because I "survived" it. But I would have said HELL NO had you asked me while I was going through the healing process. That swelling really was a bitch. And the scare of infection sucks (for lack of a better term). I've had my tongue piercing a little over a month now. Its healed up nicely. After the second week everything was pretty much back to normal. I could eat my regular foods and my speech was perfect yet again. I lost a total of 7 pounds in the process, which I suppose isn't a bad thing. =P And it really is a fun little toy to play with. *wink*

Some words of advice for those that are intent on getting this done. DON'T over do it on the cold stuff . . . Frost bite on your tongue is NOT good. Also do use that sea salt rinse. It does wonders. =P