After having my sternum pierced twice and it rejecting both of those times I kind of figured, "Hey, maybe that's just not supposed to be in my chest." It annoyed me not being able to wear necklaces though because of my nape staples so I wanted something at the front as well. So I decided to see if a madison staple would work. I had wanted one even when my sternum was still done, but figured it might take away the effect, having both.
At A Glance Author Carls Contact lil_buggie@hotmail.com IAM Carls When A month ago Artist Mitch Studio Liam's Piercing Studio Location Toowoomba, Australia My mate Jess and I headed into town on a Friday to Liam's Piercing Studio, where I always get my piercings. I booked an appointment time and seeing as how I had my own staple I had to give that to the studio an hour prior to the appointment so it would have time to be put in the autoclave for sterilising.
So we went away and did boring, stupid stuff like shopping to pass the time. I don't remember if the time went fast or slow but we headed back to the studio and that all too familiar sensation came over me. I swear there is something about that studio. Vibes or something. Whenever I get close to it I lose my breath, my palms get drenched with sweat and I start to shake. It's not that I'm scared, I've had 19 piercings so I'm used to them now. There is just something about that place that my body doesn't seem to like.
The receptionist told us to wait in the waiting room and Mitch shouldn't be too long. I sat on the couch there taking deep breaths, trying to return myself to a sensible state, while Jess sat opposite me and laughed! After about 5 minutes of doing this I succeeded, after which Mitch called me through to the piercing room.
The first thing I noticed was it was a lot hotter in there than usual. Mitch later told me the air conditioning was broken. I stood up while he marked me up. He then got me to lye down because he thought he might be able to do a better job of marking that way. Finding this wasn't the case he got me to stand up again! After looking at the 3 little dots he had made from about ten different angles (perfectionist!) he finally seemed content and got me to lye down on the bench again. Time to check the sterile packagings. Unopened packets, brown arrow means its been sterilised by an autoclave, one use needles and the rest of it. I turned the other way as Mitch told me he would try to make it as quick as possible.
The first puncture of the needle wasn't too painful. Coming out on the other side was a little worse than going in but still it was bearable. I knew there were worse things to come yet! I felt the rip as Mitch pulled the needle out of my skin and the forceful shoving of the jewellery through the wound. I find jewellery going in always hurts more than the actual piercing itself, strangely enough. Just when I thought I couldn't possibly grit my teeth any harder Mitch told me it was all over and he just had to screw the ball on. It may only take around 10 seconds to do but sometimes I find those 10 seconds seem to drag on forever!
Mitch said he would have to be rough for a minute while he screwed the ball on so he could get it done up really tight. It wasn't too painful though.
I was then free to have a look at my new body modification in the mirror. I loved it! It was just what I had wanted! I thanked Mitch and left. I didn't have to pay anything for it because the sternum one had rejected he replaced it with that one for free. No complaints from me!
It is now just over 6 weeks old and when it hits 8 weeks if all is still going well I have to go back and get it resized. So far it's looking really good. It is a little red around the tops of the holes but I'm thinking that may just be scar tissue. The stems of the bar are hanging out a little way now but when I went back to Mitch for a checkup he said that was alright and that when I get the resize done those stems would just be cut down so that only the balls are visible. It should look a lot more attractive that way too. It's not too pretty at the moment but I'm hoping it will be worth it in the end if it decides to stay put! I'm now counting down the days until it heals so I can get my next piercing. Decisions, decisions!