Chris gets his tongue pierced!
Number of Visitors Since September 1, 1998
Pre-Piercing
For the last 2 1/2 years I have wanted to get my tongue pierced. I thought it was really
cool looking and would be awesome. 2 Weeks ago I decided it was time to get it done.
I kinda ran the idea by my friends to see what they thought. Everyone thought I was
a moron except for Becky (close friend of mine), she thought it was really cool. She wanted to get hers done too,
but her previous boyfriend wouldn't let her (Interesting sidenote - her current boyfriend was *very* against the idea as well). So we both decided on getting it done on thursday.
I asked around to see if anybody knew a good place to get it done. A friend o'mine Dan suggested
Saint Sabrina's in uptown. (Minneapolis, MN). So we called there and the dude that answered
said to come by around 7 or so. So Becky and I were really excited! I decided I wanted to give that to Becky as her birthday present. She thought that was really cool. On wednsday (the day
before the pierce) I went and saw Pearl Jam with a few friends. I told them what I was going to do
the next day. They thought I was definitely smoking crack and had serious issues (I get that alot)
anyways, so even though they were fairly dissaproving, I was still really excited. My friends
asked if I was potentially going to get booted from home for this. (I still live at home - but really...I am trying to move out)
I didn't even think about that. I figured she might be bitter (my mom) but still wanted to do it.
Day of the Pierce - July 2,1998
Sooooo....I went to school. Took a test, probably failed it, and went home. Gave Becky a call.
She was starting to get nervous and was worried that her boyfriend would be bitter. Anyways, we decided
we probably should get full, as we wouldn't be eating much solid food for a while. We decided on B E E F - thats
right, you know it -> Arby's! (mmmm...beef) So we went and feasted. Becky was all worried about
traffic so we left like a whole hour early, and you know we got there in 20 mins :-) So we rolled in to
Saint Sabrina's and talked with the people downstairs. They were all pretty cool... they told us to head upstairs
for the piercing dudes. So we partied on up there...the dude up there helped us pick out jewelry...we both got 14ga. 3/4 inch ssg barbells,
although I kinda wanted to get this cool green and blue one...I decided to go with the standard one that the guy was recommending. They had some crazy ones
there though, dice, skulls, wierd shapes, it was pretty cool. Lot of cool things you can have in your mouth :-) It cost $30 for the pierce and $35 for the jewelry.
We gave the guy our id's and he had us fill out some consent forms.
So we signed away our tongues and still had like 25 minutes to wait (cause we were so early).
So in the mean time...Becky is starting to think about wimping out (I know because I can read her MIND-silly rabbit). So we decided
to look at shoes...cause they sell shoes there. These guys were looking at shoes too. After like 5 minutes, one of them comes up
to me and asked if I had some slip-on socks. What?!?! He said "you know..so I can try on some shoes". I told him "umm I don't
work here...maybe you should ask that dude" and pointed at one of the employees. Becky was talking to one of the girls
that worked there...asking if it hurt, what was the procedure, would her tongue swell, etc. The girl assured Becky she
would love it. So we hung out for a while more..looked at some tatoo art books....watched a guy get one. While we were in this waiting area, My buddy ryan called on my cell and I told him what I was about to do. He said I was crazy and I assured him it was a fantastic idea. He mumbled something like "uh huh..whatever" and wished me good luck. Finally it was time!
I was really really excited. I wanted Becky to go first so she wouldn't watch me and freak out, but Becky had other ideas :-)
It was definitely ME first. Ok, thats cool... So I went first. The guy introduced himself. His name was Scott. He explained
what he was going to do. He had me sit down in this dentist chair like thing. It was sorta in this room, seperated by a white hospital like curtain. He put one of those drool bib things around my neck
and gave me a cup of yellow listerine...I heard this stuff was supposed to taste nasty but it wasn't too bad. I swished that around
in my mouth for a minute then spit it out. Scott showed me all the equipment and that it had been sterilized,etc. The needle looked more like a nail I thought, and the tip was in some sort of jelly. I asked what that was for but now for the life of me I can't remember. *shrug*. Becky looked
pretty white (to be fair though - she is the bravest chick I know, and thats why she's cool), but I was having a great time. These two other chicks popped
thier heads in through the curtain and said Hi. I didn't know them but hey... the more the merrier :-)
He told me to stick my tongue out as far as I could.
He marked a dot with some purple ink. I looked in the mirror and said it was a good spot. So then he pulls out these forceps,
which kinda look like those scientific salad tongs you used in 9th grade chem. I was also led to believe by friends that had thier tongue
pierced, that the forceps were big and they hurt. whatever...they weren't big at all. Becky ducked out 'cause she said there's no way she could do it after watching me. I was cool with that, so she waitied outside the little room. Scott applied gentle pressure and asked if it hurt. I didn't, and I was
still all smiles. He pointed out that I have a large tongue...bonus. So he had me start taking deep breaths when I exhaled he pushed the needle through. No pain
at all - I also heard you could feel different layers of your tongue as they're being pierced. Some people have also told me they hear a pop. Not me though,
totally painless. I watched in the mirror as he threaded the jewelry and then I was done. No blood either...I was surprised. Maybe my tongue is just a lifeless,
numb piece of tissue - dunno. As soon as he was done and I looked in the mirror I was soooo Hyper...I felt so great
and had like this trippy head rush going on. I showed everybody my tongue..Becky,Scott, those two chicks. It was awesome...it was the most
fun I have had in a long time. Scott cleaned up some stuff. Threw away the needle in one those hospital sharps away boxes, and went to prepare for Becky.
She was really starting to get nervous now. We were back in the waiting area with those two chicks, I noticed they both had pierced tongues as well, I asked them
to tell Becky how painless it was. All 3 of us agreed that it didn't hurt and gave Becky some love and support :-) I promised her it wouldn't hurt
and she could mutilate me anyway she wanted to if it did. She was still a little worried and craving a cigarette. One of those chicks bummed her a smoke and we went out on this little porch
they have on the 2nd floor. We talked for a while and she got all excited and wanted to do it. We went back in and scott was almost ready. Me and those two chicks stood and watched. We were all really excited. There was a really positive vibe happening. Becky went through it no problem,
she said getting the top of her ear pierced was way more painful then her tongue. Everyone was really excited and proud of her..she had quite a few spectators...I don't know if its cause she was afraid and people wanted to see pain or if its just that shes better looking than me. She felt a little dizzy at first, but she took
an aleve and some water and felt great. We were both really happy afterwards...we repeatedly thanked scott for the awesome job he did.
On the way home I couldn't stop playing with it. I would click the metal on each tooth, or roll it from side to side. Its also really cool to let your tongue go limp and shake your
head really fast (I know, I know...I have issues..don't remind me) It was great. We went to walgreens and picked up some gly-oxide (cool foaming action by the way) and some cool mint listerine. I also picked
up a bottle of aleve just in case. We went over to Becky's place, she called her boyfriend and told him to come over...she told him she hadn't gone through with
it and only I had. You should've seen his face when he saw it..we are talking bonus :-) He was not happy to say the least. He said we were both crazy. (getting used to that title by now)
It was great and didn't hurt at all. I put a little bit of crushed ice in my mouth and let it melt all over...felt really soothing. Played with it the rest of the day and cleaned my tongue and went to bed...dreading the next day. Brushed my teeth, applied gly-oxide, rinsed w/listerine.
Day After the Pierce - July 3, 1998
I was really worried about the day after because I heard this was the worst day...swelling and pain were to be expected. It wasn't that bad however.
I got up and cleaned my tongue. The gly-oxide has sort of a tingly numbing effect. I also took two aleve. Unfortunately, I had to work that day. (I do tech support for both Ameritech.net and Netscape Communications) Since I was on the
phone all day, my tongue literally got tired. It was kind of wierd, just like your legs get tired from walking...my tongue was tired from talking. I also had a hard time with H's, R's, and S's. Hardware was definitley the worst word
I had to say all day (and I say it a LOT). Minor swelling but other than that no problem. Becky had even better luck than I did, she didn't have any swelling or speech problems (must've been that fat tongue of mine). Her boyfriend is also more approving today. Since all was
going well so far, I decided to show my mom. She took it pretty well. She just wanted to know if it hurt. She also said I couldn't show my little brothers.
Everyone at work, well not everyone, but probably 75% loved it, and the rest thought I was crazy. I guess Becky had similar reactions and everyone loved hers too.
Day After the Day After the Pierce - July 4, 1998
No problems today other than minor speech difficulties. Todays the fourth of july though and not many calls are coming in. Took me an hour and ten minutes to eat a beef n' cheddar, just
wasn't happenning. Had to take tiny bites and drink a lot of koolaid. Other than that feels great. Went to BestBuy and showed it to my buddy Greg. He didn't think it was real at first. When he decided it was,
he said I was crazy. I'm really happy with it though. Can't believe I waited so long to get it done. I would definitely recommend getting it done if you are considering it. If you're in the Twin Cities area,
go to Saint Sabrina's in Uptown. The People are great and its a cool place! Finished off the night with a sack of Chicken Rings from White Castle...mmmm...they have the *best* fast food chicken nugget type product there is! Couldn't finish the whole sack,
tongue got tired of struggling with it (evil tongue! - I was still hungry). Cleaned my tongue and called it a night.
Day After the Day After the Pierce + 1 - July 5, 1998
Woke up today and had a little bit of light yellow stuff around pierce. Not so much aroung the pierce but in the middle of my tongue (both latterally and the other way - right where the gly-oxide was) Rinsed with diluted listerine and it dissappeared. Was able to eat Chicken Tenders
from Burger King without much problem - was sorta slow going but not bad. Seem to be salivating a lot (I KNOW you wanted to know that) but not too bad. No pain,
didn't even take aleve today. Had my first sneeze since getting my tongue pierced. Was kinda wierd. It didn't hurt, but felt like the tongue was kinda wagging back and forth as it happened - dunno :-)
Day After the Day After the Pierce + 2 - July 6, 1998
Feels pretty good today...noticed that it still kinda hurts to yawn. Found out that I took the top score on that test I mentioned earlier :-) (was a netware 4.11 test). Was able to eat a full meal! Had the lunch buffet at KFC. mmmm...chicken,
even though thats all I've been eating for the last few days, it was still good - and chicken is really easy to eat. Mashed potatoes were good too. No problems eating at all. Still a minor lisp going on (sucks) but doing ok. The Listerine seems to be giving me cottonmouth - even 50% dilluted. Tongue also seems to be turning white, asked around and I'm told this is caused by it being over-cleansed - the tongues natural mucos membranes are being washed away. Came from a person I think would know, so cut back a little on the cleansing, also going to get some Biotene instead of listerine which I'm currently using. Becky is all back to normal...I'm fairly jealous. Sounds like her twin sister wants hers done now :-)
That will be an adventure in itself...her boyfriend started saying no to her as soon as he saw becky's (perceptive guy eh?). But other than that, can't wait till I can talk normally again. Showed everyone at school - they all thought I was a psycho and were thouroughly (spelling?) shocked. Read on the net that gly-oxide is ineffective and has been listed by the fda as
an ineffective medical agent. A sea salt solution was recommended to me instead of the gly-oxide. Going to give that a shot tomorrow I think.
Day After the Day After the Pierce + 3 - July 7, 1998
Switched to Biotene today (recommended to me by scott - my piercer)....MUCH better than listerine! Doesn't have the bite that listerine does...and doesn't cause cottonmouth. Discontinued Gly-Oxide. Didn't get a chance to try that salt solution, as everywhere I went didn't stock sea salt. Going to stop by Saint Sabrina's later to see if they stock it.
Also getting kinda paranoid that my tongue is infected...Theres just a little hint of light yellow milky stuff in the same place I mentioned earlier (not in the pierce) and my tongue is kinda white. Going to have the folks at SS's look at it for my
own piece of mind. I've been told I'm overreacting *shrug*
Day After the Day After the Pierce + 4 - July 8, 1998
Stopped by Saint Sabrina's, had my tongue looked at. They said it was nothing to worry about,
white tongue ok...yellow tongue bad :-) Picked up some sea salt. Let me tell you, that stuff is really
nasty....worse than drinking a mouthful of actual seawater. On the bonus side though, it really clears out your head,
your sinuses,etc. And it did seem to make my tongue feel more comfortable that night while sleeping. No pain or swelling at all - tongue
has returned to normal size. Noticed something interesting I hadn't heard anyone mention yet, where the ball sits on the top of your tongue, also leaves kinda a dimple in the place it touches on the roof of your mouth. Also have no speech troubles at all. I love my piercing...a couple days of pain and it seemed
like today would never come, I thought I'd never be back to normal, but it am and its great! I definitely love the way it feels in my
mouth.
One Month After the Pierce - August 2, 1998
So its been a month! Tongue is perfectly ok :-) All in all it was a wonderful experience and the day of the pierce was one of the most exciting and anticipated days I've had
in a long time. I would definitely recommend it to anyone considering it. I've been looking at new jewelry, but I really like the barbell I have now. I've also figured out all sorts of crazy
things to do with it. I still play with it all the time, I find it really amusing :-) Some people think I'm scary now, but mostly everyone just wanted to know if it hurt or how it felt,etc. Anyways, thats
the ongoing story of my tongue...
Two Months After the Pierce - September 2, 1998
It's kinda sad, it seems like a such long time ago that my tongue was pierced. I kinda wanna do it again...maybe my lip this time. I love my tongue though :-) Still haven't got my jewelry changed, even though mine is kinda long I like it. Becky's doing great too...I know you all were wondering.
You may also want to check out this page, which is tongue piercing related. Also, you should call Saint Sabrina's at 612-874-7360 if you're in the Twin Cities Metro Area to setup an appointment!
Crazy Piercing Stories
So I've had my tongue pierced for a while and have had some crazy things happen related to it.
The Apartment Story:
So I was going to meet with the landlord of this apartment complex I wanted to move into. I *really* wanted to
live at this place. So I decided maybe to give a good first impression I should not wear my barbell. So I took it out
right before I entered the manager's office. I talked to her and it sounded all good. So I got back out to my car
and was trying to reinsert the barbell. I couldn't thread it through...it would only sink halfway through my tongue. I decided
to not bother with it and wait until I got home (it was only like 3 minutes away). So I'm at home, trying to thread it back into
my tongue. It still wouldn't go any further than halfway down. I decided to thread it through the bottom. When I lifted up my
tongue I was totally shocked. The hole had scabbed over! It had been out maybe 45 minutes. I was not going to lose my pierce.
I decided I'd just take care of it myself, since I didn't have any cash. I dried off my tongue with some gauze stuff and stretched
it out. I took the barbell and just rammed it straight down the hole. There was a little pop and it stung really bad. There was
also a little blood. I just threaded my barbell and took an aleve. I just sat with ice in my mouth. I was still totally freaking out.
I was afraid I was going to get infected. I rinsed with listerine for so long you would be amazed! It turned out ok though. I didn't
get infected. Everyone thought I was really crazy for manually re-piercing my tongue with a blunt object...but hey, I was *NOT* giving
up my pierce!
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