Tattoo Time!!

I am officially tattooed! I received a call from Rob (my artist) as I was leaving work Friday. He was able to shrink down the design to half it's original size (thank God!), but because it was so much smaller he didn't have needles small enough to put it on the skin. Fortunately his dad is one of only 2 in the state that can create small tattoos so Bob (his dad) was assigned to ink me.

Over the past few weeks I've asked a number of people that have tattoos if they hurt and each one said 'no'. That sounded like absolute crap to me. You can't tell me that being poked repeatedly with a needle doesn't hurt. It wasn't so bad that I wouldn't do it again, but I will tell you that having a tattoo over part of my hip bone did hurt. Each time it began to vibrate over the bone, I could feel it all the way down my leg. Most the rest of the tattooing didn't hurt and after a while the endorphins kick in and you think you can lie there for hours. It started feeling like someone was touching a sunburn. Bob said I didn't really bleed, just some serous fluid leaked from the capillaries. It did start feeling painful a few hours after the tattooing, but I think that because of my allergies, my body is reacting to it. It was a giant white hive for a 1-2 inch diameter around the tattoo. Today it is starting to get red and a bit warm. I'll keep an eye on it to make sure I don't react to it. I may have to wear dresses the next couple of days so I don't have things rubbing on it and irritating it more. Evidently scabs are the enemy so I am supposed to moisturize, moisturize, moisturize!!