Not Getting Inked After All
After getting all excited over the prospect of my first tattoo, it turns out I’m not getting inked after all.
Seems that, according to my doctor at any rate, getting a tattoo while being miserably sick isn’t such a good combination. I don’t really remember her exact reasons, but it had something do to with me coughing and sneezing while ink-laden needles are jabbing into my skin.
Then when I pointed out the obvious solution — that I get so intoxicated as to pass out, thus making it unlikely I’d cough or sneeze — she pointed out that I can’t drink while taking the meds she prescribed, and if I actually want to get over this stuff that’s had me sick for going on 3 weeks now, I’d better take the damn pills.
So, no tattoo for me this year. Which is probably a good thing, because I never did ask VH how he’d feel about my ass bearing a tat which read “If lost, please return to…” followed by George Clooney’s address.
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In my state(Alabama)it’s a felony to give a tattoo to a drunk person. Maybe when your illness is gone you’ll reconsider the ink. I really don’t get the “tattoo fever” that’s overtaken many women in my age group. I haven’t caught it and I hope I don’t. I grew up in a time where women only got tattoos if they went to prison or joined the marines. I had to change my thinking when my mother-in-law got one a few years ago. I still haven’t seen it since it’s in a “hidden area” so I hope I never do.
Also, drinking before getting a tat isn’t a good idea anyway - it thins your blood making it difficult for the ink to actually stay in, as you bleed more which pushing the ink right back out. (A lot of medications will do this as well.)
People come in to the shop I work at to get tatted while sick all the time. It’s a pain in the ass for us because they can’t hold still due to the reasons you stated - coughing and sneezing. So far as drunk people go, I personally don’t tat them because I don’t want to have to give them a free touch-up a few weeks later.
Get a tattoo when you are healthy again, but most importantly, when you are ready. It’s a permanent thing so don’t let anyone pressure you.
Actually, the pressure is on me to NOT get a tattoo. My husband’s not terribly fond of the idea, although he understands my rationale: at 41-years-old and decidedly married, it’s not like anyone’s going to be checking my body out besides the two of us. And he rather likes the design I picked out (which really isn’t George Clooney’s address).
But since I can’t stop coughing and sneezing, and am shivering when my recurring fever spikes then sweating when it breaks, there’s just no way I want to add more misery to what I’m already going through.
I pity my doctor tomorrow. If I sound whiny about this now, imagine what I sound like in person!