Well. This is the story of my Venoms.
At A Glance Author Mikki Contact Mikki@bme.anon IAM bbycakes When N/A Artist Bubbles Studio Picton Tattoos Location NSW, Australia
Maybe I should explain how this whole deal started. Last year, the 18th of December I believe it was, I got my lip pierced. My mum is strongly against piercings. I wasn't allowed to have my ears pierced until my 10th birthday and when I asked to have them done a second time I was shocked she said I could. So when I asked her to let me get my lip pierced. She said yes after 3 days and I still can't believe she let me. The deal was that I had to be better behaved in school and not ask for anymore. Me wanting my lip pierced badly had me agreeing to anything.
So I did. And at the time I saw the idea of tongue piercings to be a really stupid thing to do. To put a hole through the muscle you rely on most. And one of the places on you body that harvests the most bacteria made me cringe. My brother thought they were cool but also thought they were stupid and had to urge to get one done and asked me to stop him from ever doing it. After I had my lip pierced I increasingly saw tongue piercings in a new light. I don't know why, I don't know what changed my outlook on them but something did. When I started to think seriously about getting one, my boyfriend at the time (without me mentioning it to him at all) said I should get one. (Not for any kinky purposes, purely because he thought they looked sexy. I'm completely against giving head anyway.) It shocked me because it was like he knew I was at a vunerable point to ask me. I thought and thought and decided I'd get one. My mum of course said no. More along the lines of no fucking way. A l ittle while later I had a fight with my mother about it and said to her in jest that I would be 16 soon and that I could legally get it done without her anyway. She said fine, but she wasn't paying for it. Also later she said she wouldn't be my form of transport either.
So I was set about getting it done. In the meantime self-pierced my left helix, left tragus(retired), tongue webbing and stretched my right ear - first hole. All of which my mother doesn't know about. But my sister now does. I just told her. My mum is a nurse which just makes matters worse. So is my sister but she doesn't care as long as i'm careful. Anyhoo.. I decided that the holidays after I turned 16 would be the best time to do it. My birthday drew closer and closer and since I had just changed schools from a private one to a public one. The holidays were later. Being impatient I decided to get it done the week after my birthday. My birthday is on a Monday which this year is a public holiday. So I opted for the 14th of June which is the Sunday after. Around this time I started seeing one centre tongue piercing as very generic and mainstream and I do not like mainstream at all. I had thought about venoms but the thought of getting two done on my tongue at once didn't appeal to me. I ummed and ahhed until I (with the help of a friend) decided to get venoms anyway. Because I knew one day I'd end up with them no matter what I did and to get a centre one would be a waste of $60 AUD in the long run.
Because I changed schools after the school year had already started. I missed school photos for my new school. So in turn, I couldn't get an ID card from them. Which I need to get my venoms. So the day before I went to the RTA to get an ID card. This thankfully my mother isn't stopping me from doing and is driving me there.
I realised that I had forgotten to make an appointment at a place called Wicked Ink. Where I had gotten my lip pierced. I rang at school one day and the woman told me that the piercer had suffered a loss in his family and wouldn't be working. So I had to find somewhere else. One of my friends has a sister who is a piercer. She wanted to do my venoms when she heard about them. But ended up being sick on the day. Desperate to get them I went to a place in Campbeltown, that has a incredibly bad reputation and I have had my brother who got his eyebrow there and it's rejecting and my friend who's belly bar is very crooked. But I still went there anyway. Knowing quite a bit about piercings and knowing I should trust my instincts. I should have known better, but I'm the idiot.
When we got there I went in, signed the forms. Showed my ID and went into the little room. My brother Luke decided to film it. And my friend (with the crooked belly bar) watched. The first thing that shoulda clicked was the fact he marked me before I rinsed. I reminded him about rinsing and he was like oh yeah and got me some. Remember I'm the idiot. So I did and he didn't remark me. Even though the marks had washed off. He clamped me (thank god everything was sterile) and pierced. Hurt like a bitch. Next one, clamp, hurt like a bitch. Barbell. Done. I thanked him, he gave me no aftercare and I left. Lucky I already know after care.
When I got home I showed my friend and how crooked they were. She showed her sister (who is the chick who wanted to pierce me) and she told me to take them out now. One was way too close to a vein and would cause friction and rupture my vein and I'd bleed out. The other was gunna cause me gum problems. So I did. She is planning to redo them this weekend. At the moment I am $20 AUD short. So all in all I lost $120 AUD, got a piercing that I had to remove (oh and the bars were way too short), got in shit from my mother, who didn't know I was getting two piercings instead of one, got in shit for not telling her I'd changed locations and have to go through all that again.
My tongue is only sore if I press on it and it's barely swollen since I took them out so soon. They have closed up over night which is good. I need to find twenty bucks AHHH!
$20 later...
Well I got the money so I told my piercer (bubbles) that Saturday was go.
My mum was sick so my sister came over and took me down there. I went in and Nat (bubbles sister) and Chloe (another friend) were there. We went to get some lunch. I didn't have enough money to buy a drink so I just got food. We went back to the shop and Bubbles had to pierce this guy who I swear was on drugs or drunk. Like my god. He was like 40 or 50 and had his eyebrow pierced but she was piercing his lip. He was saying crap that shouldn't be said and us three were just sitting there like ugh... When he left Bubbles was freaking out because she knew that he had hepitatis and herpes so she went wacky with the cleaning. Put the gloves in a bag then in the bin, threw out her favourite marker, got the antiseptic wash clean kill human life stuff and put it on everything. Then for good measure she broke out the Glen 20. Then made all of us use the antiseptic wash clean kill human life stuff on our hands.
She stuffed around a bit more doing things blah blah then realised she had to pierce me haha. So she set up the stuff and gave me Listerine to rinse, then I took my place on the bed thingo. She marked lines on my tongue. One horizontal and then marked two vertical. She planned to put them inside my veins which was way too close for me. I asked if I could have them outside and she didn't know because they would be very far out to miss my veins. NOTE: my veins end up being a big problem in this whole deal. So she did two more lines on my tongue (btw she used a tooth pick and ink) outside the first two and asked me if they were good. I liked that placement way better. So on went the checking and missing my veins escapade.
NOTE: this is the part to read.
Jace (her boyfriend who is also a piercer) got out the torch while she clamped my tongue just for grip. I noticed that this time around, i'm not sure why maybe due to use of different clamps or what, but when she clamped me it bothered my webbing quite a bit. I told her this so we decided to take out my webbing while she pierced me and she would put it back in after she was done. But before that she continued to mark me for another 30 minutes. She wanted to get it perfect after the last dickhead who pierced me. She was finally done, clamped the barbell in my webbing, unscrewed it and took it out. She then dried my tongue (one of many many times) and clamped the right side first. She grabbed the canula/needle. Placed it below my tongue checked once more that it was right and then pierced. It went through quickly and straight. It did hurt, but A LOT less that the first time I had these done. She then picked up the barbell (22mil) and put it through, took out the canula and then screwed on the ball. That's one done. She then dried my tongue and the blood again, clamped the left side, got Jace to check with the torch for veins. She was clear. So she place the canula/needle underneath my tongue and pierced. She had to go a lot slower this time to make sure she didn't hit a vein, she freaks about these things haha. So the second one hurt the same but for longer. Jace then realised there was a problem with the second barbell she was about to put in. The ball wouldn't go on. They sorted that, then she put it through and screwed the ball on. She made sure both were tight and I was good. She then put my webbing back in and put the ball on that making sure it was tight. I now bet you I won't be able to get it off. I got my sister to come get me, Bubbles filled out my form for me and I signed it. I paid and we just chilled until my sister came. She also gave me an after care sheet. My sister arrived and I hugged Bubbles good by and thanked her a million. Hu gged Nat and Chloe and said by to Jace. I then went home. I could drink fine, I sounded like a total prat when I spoke. I took Panadol and Ibuprofen. We had dinner and I decided to try my hand at eating solid food. I then with major surprise found it was so much easier chewing tiny bits than eating soft foods because they stuck to the balls and barbells.
So I just cut my food into incy wincy size and put them in the side of my mouth on my molars and ate them with no trouble.
Day 1
I woke up. No real pain or discomfort, just the usual slight soreness around the holes. Then about 5 minutes after I had been talking, pain. Like, see I have a high pain tolerance, so it wasn't like OMFG IT HURTS. It was oooh shit man thats sore. And I held my mouth open then took some good ol' P & I and I was right as rain. Then I was fine. Didn't drink AHELLUVA lot of ice water, but a fair amount. Just filled up a coke bottle and stuck it in the freezer. Once again, soft foods are a pain. I emplore you all to try the soft foods first but all I'm saying is don't be shy to try the 'tiny-pieces-of-food-pu-in-back-of-mouth' method. Cause for some people it's easier, like me. Since my mum is a nurse and despite being against my taste in "accesories" she still kinda takes pity on me in my healing process. She set up when to take panadol and ibuprofen so that I wouldn't overdoes. Isn't she nice. So I was alright most of the day. I cleaned with saline and non-alcohol mouthwash after everytime I ate. And in the mornings and at night. I brush my teeth in the mornings when I'm in the shower like always. Before I decided to sleep the holes got a bit sorer but I'll live. I just won't talk in the morning before drugs. Tongue is swollen but no where near the full length of the barbells. I still have a decent 4mil left visibil on them. Lymphing badly out the underside holes of my tongue. Nothing that isn't normal so all is good.
Day 2
Woke up, made it a point not to talk until I'd had my "candy". Had that, felt okay. Went to school. Around lunch when I started eating the painkillers wore off and it really started to hurt. So I took more, I was alright until I got home and took ibuprofen. Then I was alright again, had dinner which was incredibly sore but I got through it. Soft foods are still my worst enemy. Normal food is fine for me. I was due for some panadol at 8pm but didn't take it and just haven't spoken since. My mum has gone to work and I'm going to take some panadol and go to bed. As they say the first day is the worst for me at the moment it was definately the second. Tongue is still swollen, hasn't gone down any, lymphing is the same that hasn't reduced either.
Day 3
When I woke up there wasn't any pain until 10 minutes later. I was trying to get the pain to calm a bit before i tried to take anything. It was definately worse than the second day. I wouldn't say unbearable but very uncomfortable. I got some ice water and after 10 minutes of that my tongue felt brilliant. Took some ibuprofen and panadol and I was good to go. 4 hours later took some more panadol at school. Ate slow as usual. Lymphing A LOT still. Swelling is the same. Didn't go to school today so I could stay home and do most of my history assignment.
Day 4
Pain definately was better. Took my drugs, went to school, yada yada yada. Lymphing was in overdrive. I noticed that when I gently pulled the lymph off, within minutes more would be there. Mainly on the left piercing. And the lymph is only coming out the bottom holes. I'm glad about this because more means they are really starting to heal. Also noticed this morning that swelling has gone down a tiny bit. Not much but enough that I noticed. I still talk like I got a mouthful of marbles though. Decided that I was going to quite taking the painkillers and ibuprofen. Haven't taken any for 13 hours or so. I get sharp pains every now and then and when they go my tongue is fine. Just the normal soreness.
Day 5
I woke up for school, missed the bus so I was home again. Still haven't taken anything and the sharp pains come and go. When I looked under my tongue in the mirror there was no lymph at all and the holes were little red blood colour patches, it wasn't bleeding it was just that colour. When I got my first set of venoms that were crooked, when the holes were healing they turned this colour so I know it's normal. Also swelling has gone down again. Not a lot but it's noticable. Pain and soreness totally gone.
Day 6
Swelling gone down a tonne, feeling better. Bit one of the balls today, hurt my teeth but didn't hurt my tongue. Didn't chip anything either, I plan to chew slower in future. Also, my tongue has gone white and fury and mank looking, breath isn't bad though... yet.
Day 7
Tongue is still mega mank, my breath doesn't smell but when I stick out my tongue I can smell is "smell" and it isn't pleasant. Keeping my tongue in my mouth from now on.
Day 8
Tongue is no longer mank, looks it's normal pink colour, the hardness around the actual holes/bars is still there, and it's normal. It's called hypotrophic scarring, so this doesn't worry me. Also, the swelling is completely gone, and I think has been gone since day 6 but wasn't sure cause of mankness and hard bumpy scar things.
Day 9
Bumpy things are slowly getting smaller but I expect will take a while to completely go. Doesn't bother me though cause they are only on the underside of my tongue. I've worked out that one of the bars are shorter than the other. And my tongue still didn't swell the whole length, I'm definately not much of a sweller. I'm getting the bars downsized on saturday, and I'm not going to write again until then. I find myself constantly playing with my tongue and with the faces I pull it doesn't look attractive but hey, I don't give a shit. :D
DOWNSIZED
I got my bars downsized and I must say it's awesome. The left one still has a considerable bump (it got irritated cause I'm sick) and the right one's has gone almost completely, more than almost. But they've stopped leaking stuff all together now so I think it's going to finally start going down. To be honest, I don't think the healing was that bad, maybe because I was on a lot of meds but still, when I wasn't it was alright as well.
I truly recommend these to anyone that wants them.