Hi, I'm Nae and I have a love for piercings. However, I currently have a very lame job that restricts me from having any visible body modifications other than one ring per ear.... So, basically, most of my piercings are hidden under my clothing or filled with retainers. I recently moved out and went off to college and since have realized that I make enough money at my dead end job that I can continue getting body mods without actually draining my bank account. Which is cool.
At A Glance Author Nae Contact Nae@bme.anon When A week ago Artist Wendi Studio Lucky Monkey Location Ann Arbor, MI Anyway, you really don't care about that. Around the beginning of the school year I heard from a customer at my work about the Lucky Monkey Tattoo and Piercing parlor and thought that I would check it out. I ended up going in and getting my tongue pierced and completing an orbital in my helix, a second tongue piercing, then getting an 8g conch piercing and my septum, and then decided that I still needed more. Upon entering the Lucky Monkey on my first visit, I was told that I would have to come back later because they were cleaning and they didn't feel comfortable piercing. I really liked that they told me to come back when they were okay with piercing, because it made me feel as if they cared more about my health and safety, as well as their abilities, than just taking my money.
Regardless, a few months ago I started talking to Wendi there about getting venoms behind my current two center tongue piercings. Wendi told me that we could definitely do them with my anatomy but I had to wait until my septum was at least a month old and my conch was not extremely angry (other entry). Eventually, that month went by and Wendi gave me the go ahead. I kept planning time to get it done, but then something would happen and I wouldn't be able to get them done. Finally, I was set on getting them and was ready to go. My friend and I got ready and went down to the studio after we got out of our finals on a Friday evening. We went back and hung out with Wendi for a little bit and talked about the piercing.
Because I had gotten so many piercings already, I had some of my older, longer tongue jewelry that Wendi was willing to put back in my tongue. She marked and measured my tongue to make sure that the jewelry was long enough. She ended up using 9/16" 12g barbells because in my other piercings, I didn't swell up much and I have a very thin tongue to begin with. So, she took the jewelry, anodized them so that one was pink and one was blue, and we sat around chatting waiting for the statim auto clave to finish cleaning up my jewelry.
Once the jewelry was sterilized, I hopped up on to the stabbing table and tried to remember to breathe. Wendi used Techni-Care (that wonderfully bandaid-flavored cleaner) and the drooling began. I have an amazing ability to drool a lot, and when I have to stick my tongue out for a prolonged period of time while anticipating a needle being shoved through, well, it's not much of an exception. Anyway, Wendi wiped off the rest of the techni-care and grabbed the clamps and positioned them so that my vein was out of the way, latched on, probably made fun of me for something, then had me breathe in, then breathe out, stab, insert jewelry, remove clamps, screw on ball, and let me catch my breath.
For some reason, this was the first time I freaked out during a piercing. I started shaking and was really cold suddenly... and I had to pee. Wendi wouldn't let me go pee because I was wasting sterility.... So, she gave me some glucose and water, told me to lay back for a bit, but of course I jumped up to look in the mirror at it, and then I finally got brave enough to finish the second one.
Wendi got me to stick my tongue back out and she caught on with the clamps, aligned everything correctly, and she finally pierced me with the same process as before. Of course, I had to be freaking out for this one, and of course it had to be the one that she forgot to unscrew the bottom ball on. So, I just had to sit tight for a couple seconds without moving at all with my tongue sticking out of my mouth with a needle through it... But realistically, it took a total of maybe 10 seconds for her to unscrew it and get it all together in my mouth. After I stopped freaking, Wendi let me up and I was looking at it in the mirror and was quite happy with what I saw!
Of course, there just had to be drama with this piercing.... So, three days later I was having serious pains still in my tongue and realized that the bar on the left was too short and I was swelling too much. The bottom of my tongue was covering a bit more than half of the 5mm ball. I was worried, but Wendi saved me. We threw in 11/16" bars and instantly it felt so much better. Life was great and I could eat!
I went back a week later and we put in the 9/16" bars again because they are that much more comfortable for me, and it's been pretty swell since! I did have an issue when I downsized my front two because they weren't at risk anymore... It was all good for half an hour after I changed the bars, but then suddenly everything started bleeding... it was crazy, I wish I had a picture of it. It was a mouth full of 12g metal rods covered in dripping blood.
Anyway, I highly recommend Wendi at the Lucky Monkey for any piercing. I have a good deal of piercings planned for future endeavors and have had great experiences so far!