Well, it's the day before the piercing. I'm going to get the tounge pierced tomorrow afternoon at Infinite Body Piercing. This will be my first piercing other then my ears. Not that i'm completely new to the world of body modification as i currently have 4 tattoos (right ankle, left wrist, right forearm and right upper arm) but i will admit that i am a bit apprehensive about this. Not really fearful but very much wanting to get there and just get it done and get on the road to healing. I have been doing homework over the internet for the past 4 weeks or so regarding this piercing. The rec.arts.bodyart newgroup has been a real wealth of information. All folks there have been very willing to answer my questions, suggest the place to get this done and suggest before and aftercare along with relating their own experiences. Thank you all!!!
May 2, 1997 - P Day
OK...I just got back from getting it done. I actually went thru with it. The entire time, my wife was trying to talk me out of it. She could never truly explain why though. Got to Infinite at 12:10pm, 10 minutes after they opened. The place was already busy. I couldn't beleive it. Meg Mass was the piercer for me. She had great bedside manners and was completely upfront about what she was going to do and how she was going to do it. She got me in the chair and took a look it my tounge. She marked three places in the center of the tounge that the pierce could be performed and had me select the location. She dried my tounge off with some sort of gauze (what a strange feeling that was). She produced a set of forceps and pulled my tounge out of my mouth further then i had any idea it could go. She told me to take a deep breath in and when i release the breath she would push the needle thru. The needle punching thru was no worse than biting your tounge or getting an injection at the dentist. I was quite suprised. Meg then pushed the jewelry thru and screwed on the balls. The entire piercing took no more then 2 minutes. Very little swelling so far and no pain to speak of. Now, here i am about 1 hour after getting the piercing done. Sucking on ice (a must) and trying to decide what to pierce next. I would highly recommend Meg at Infinite. What a professional. BTW, ended up with a 12 gauge 7/8" Anatometal barbell.
May 3, 1997 - P Day +1
Took some time getting used to having a bar thru my tounge when trying to sleep last night, but I managed. Breakfast consisted of chicken broth and milk. Other then the swelling that i'm seeing there appears to be nothing out of the ordinary. Already starting to get a little bit tired of the lystrine. Stick with cool mint though...it is by far the best. Ice along with a little advil has been very helpful in releving some of the swelling but can't seem to make it go away completely. Dinner was a bit tricky. Decided to try some mac & cheese to go along with my mashed potatoes. My opinion, stay away from anything solid, even pasta. Stick to an all liquid/ice diet for the first couple of days. The potatoes and broth slide right on down but the mac & cheese took some doing and i ended up alittle bit sore after eating. Still have a endless need to play with the thing. Only got the entire bar out beyond the teeth twice today (the pierce is alittle further back then i initially throught) but have been playing quite a bit with the top of the barbell. Can't wait to get a smaller length barbell in the tounge. Well, i'm going to go suck on some more ice....
May 5, 1997 - P Day +3
Got to go to work for the first time with it in my mouth. Some yucks and "did that hurt"'s from the coworkers. Getting pretty good at getting both the top and the bottom of the barbell out of my mouth at the same time. Learned that i can no longer easily do things that i used to...1. whistle - i used to whistle quite a bit...2. lick stamps/envelopes - had to mail something today and finally found that our secretary had a sponge for that type of thing. The boss has looked at me somewhat strange several times today because of my newly found lisp. Learing to talk again is lots of fun and i have found that the tounge tires quickly. The piercing itself has remained pretty much trouble free. With the exeception the the swelling it really feels pretty good. The only current complaint is that my tounge feels completely dried out all of the time. I have an unending need to drink water for some strange reason. The other odd thing is that my tounge has become a strange yellow color (not completely unheard of from what i have read). I think i'll focus on the tounge while brushing this evening before bed. Still eating soft only foods (pasta/soup....) and getting kinda tired of that. I think i would kill for a big burger right about now. Still, i love the pierce and am enjoying playing with it quite a bit....
May 7, 1997 - P Day +5
The swelling is just about completely gone by now. Just a little bit right around the pierce itself. The tounge has returned to it's normal color except when eating cherry waterice. I have enjoyed playing with it very much. Been lots of fun just sitting in a boring meeting at work (which seems to happen all of the time now) and playing with the thing in my mouth. Couple of people have looked at me with puzzled looks trying to figure out what the hell i'm doing with my mouth. Still trying to stay away from hard/tough solid foods. Dinners have been consisting of rice or pasta with some ground beef of some sort. Pretty easy stuff to eat by now. The combination of glyoxide and lystrine have worked a number on my tounge. That was the source of the dryness and general discomfort that i was experiencing. I have switched from lystrine to biotene (much gentler) and the store brand of glyoxide (not quite as harsh). Got the bottom of the barbell stuck out in front of my bottom teeth this afternoon, pulling the top ball down against the tounge pretty hard. That hurt like hell...broke out into cold sweats and all...My lisp is just about completely gone by now, just having problems with my s sounds (sally sells seashells by the seashore). Also still trying to get a complete grasp on this whole eating deal. Never realized just how much you use the tounge to push food around in the mouth when chewing. Well, still looking forward to a smaller barbell....3/4 inch i guess.....
September 8, 1997 - P Day +128
Wow...it's now been 128 days since the initial pierce took place....my how
things change...the tongue has now completely healed and i absolutely love
it...i would do it again in a heartbeat...i think that the tongue was the
right pierce to start with as it healed as quickly and as easily as it
did....i still have the initial jewelry in because it has been so much fun
to play with at this length...
so where to now....well, i have been stretching my left earlobe (went from a
gun pierce to a 2ga in 5 weeks) and will in all likelyhood get my tragus
pierced next...i will be getting the barbell changed out this coming weekend
as it does become a little sore with all the playing and i beleive that a
larger gauge barbell would ease some of that....