Tattoos and New Years Resolutions

Good news and bad news.

This statement is both.

TATTOOS HURT!!!!

I just had to say that.
One would think the fact that if I close my eyes I can't tell if someone is touching my chest, I wouldn't have PAIN! Of course, if you remember my story of having nipple reconstruction done without sedation or general anesthesia, you know that this is something we already discovered. Still, it came as a surprise to me just how very much I could feel. Not pleasant at all.

I did opt for local anesthesia and I am so glad I did. It STILL hurt in certain areas and it certainly did sting as the local was being infiltrated. What amazed me was that it not only hurt while the tattoos were being done, my pseudo-breasts hurt afterwards. I was sore for the remainder of the day and into the night. I suppose I could have taken a Tylenol or something stronger, but it was nothing compared to the post-op pain I've had with other procedures. Plus there was something odd and bizarre about the fact that I was experiencing discomfort in an area where I allegedly don't have feeling.

Now, more good news.

I cannot even begin to explain how real these things look. If you are a breast reconstruction patient and haven't had this done yet or have been putting it off, it is SO worth having done. Even if you don't have nipples. It's been a day and I can already say that those huge long mastectomy scars that run across each "foob" and into my side on each side are much less noticable. The eye just doesn't go there. It's amazing. I realize the color will fade, but even the color they are now is OK. They used a base coat of one color (flesh 4, I believe) and then added several other colors to make them look natural (I know brick red, chocolate brown and some kind of pink were used). Simply amazing. It's that something out of nothing bit again. Amazing.

I'm really hoping this takes. There's a small percentage of people who end up with the color rapidly fading due to mast cell activity. Knowing that I do tend to be an allergic type person, I'm hoping I'm not in that percentage. I don't want to do this again. Don't want to even need a touch up. I am so very much done with procedures and surgery. My number one personal New Year's resolution is "SURGERY FREE IN 2008!" I will gladly perform any and all surgeries on other people. I am just not planning on having anything done in 2008... and maybe even never again. Never is a very long time though. I'll take it in smaller steps. I know I made need some revisions and certainly, the implants may very well need replacing someday. In the meantime, I just want to finish healing both these tattoos and my blasted toe.

Surgery free. I like the sound of that.