The Piercing Story

I will first tell this story from my perspective.

I’ve wanted my cartilage pierced for quite some time. Being in Germany was opportune; it would correlate with physics and also commemorate my time here. Numa also had wanted her tragus pierced, so we decided to go to the tattoo parlor and accomplish these great things. Joseph, Miquela, Robby, and Victoria came with us. I mentioned to them on the way there that I hoped I didn’t faint; looking back, I’m not sure why I did, since at the time I 100% correlated my former 2 fainting spells post-needle to the fact that they were medical procedures either taking blood or injecting antivirus. Everyone agreed that I wouldn’t faint. We got to the place, and the piercing artists (both female) took Numa and I to separate rooms; Miquela came with me, Victoria went with Numa, and the boys waited outside.

I stared at a giant poster of Audrey Hepburn as she pushed a needle through my ear, then stuck the earring in. It did hurt, and I squeezed Miquela’s hand. The woman had asked me before how I was with needles. “I don’t like them,” I told her, “but I’m trying to get over it.” She told me to look at the birds painted on the opposite wall.

After the earring was in, she asked me how I felt. Aside from pain that did not feel abnormal, I felt fine. She handed me a mirror to give me my first glimpse. It made me smile, and Miquela laughed at how happy I was about it. Then I was told I could get up and go walk outside.

I got up and walked out of the piercing room. Miquela offered her hand but I turned it down. That was when I started feeling lightheaded. They asked me if I wanted water; I said I would very much like that. Waves of nausea and temperature variations started coming, and I grabbed for Miquela’s hand again as the world got harder to see. We were heading for the water cooler. There was a chair next to it that I was aiming for. Just get to the chair, just get to the water.

Miquela let go of my hand to get me water. I took the next couple of steps toward the water cooler, steps that were very much not straight. I knew it but couldn’t help it. Miquela asked if I wanted hot or cold water. Barely able to hear her over the ringing in my ears, I told her I wanted cold. I reached out to touch the water cooler for balance.

Then I was sitting down in the chair and was relieved that I’d gotten so close to passing out but hadn’t. Someone--the tattoo lady--was telling me very sternly that I needed to wake up. It was because of her tone that I actually bothered to do so. I was slumped way down in the chair and wondered why I hadn’t moved myself up. I thought about doing so but instead closed my eyes again. “No, you need to keep your eyes open.” So I opened my eyes. The piercing lady told my friends, “She needs to be on that couch. Maybe you can carry her--”

“I don’t need to be carried,” I said, fighting through the ringing in my ears. “I can walk.” I did walk, sort of, to the couch. I don’t remember it very well and I was probably relying way more on whoever’s hand it was I was holding than I remember. I think Joseph had a significant hold on my shoulder.

There was a dog by the sofa. The piercing lady shooed it away. “Your feet. Here.” She pointed to the armrest of the sofa. It was a very pretty red velvet Victorian sofa.

My feet. There. I managed that.

Then one of my group said, “Well, that was exciting.”

“Yeah, definitely something to remember.”

In my very weak state, I commented, “Okay, it wasn’t that exciting. It’s not like anything major happened, I just almost passed out.”

Which was when they informed me that I did not almost pass out. I passed out absolutely and completely. Here is the story as they tell it:

Joseph was watching me walk to the water cooler and started heading there as he saw me weaving, since I had mentioned fainting as a thing beforehand. When I reached out to touch the water cooler, I apparently  just dropped and fell into the lamp. He caught me so that my head didn’t hit the floor, and then they called Robby over to help get me up. {Robby was on his phone.} At first they attempted to get me up by my arms, but when this didn’t work they somehow managed to get me very poorly into the chair. I do remember settling into the chair, although in my memory I got there on my own.

After hearing this story a few times, I finally thought to ask how long I was out. It seemed like a lot had happened. Both Miquela and Joseph--closest to the experience--agree that I was unconscious for 30 seconds and unresponsive for 30 seconds after that, so a full minute before I was responsive again. Thirty seconds seems like a very long time to me to be fully unconscious.

I lay on the couch for quite a while afterward. It took a good 3 minutes for my ears to stop ringing. They gave me water and, when Numa and Victoria arrived, Numa gave me some sweet drink they have here. I was allegedly very, very pale. The dog came back and I petted it. The first dog I’ve petted since being here.

We went to eat pizza and then ice cream afterward. I was very out of it and very exhausted, the sort of exhausted you are after a long day at the beach. Not sleepy, just absolutely worn out. I still feel like this today, and it is good there is no science planned for me to do. Even my tea mug is heavy.I got 8-9 hours of sleep and still feel tired. I looked it up on the internet, and this is normal, although I am apparently more prone to fainting while I feel like this. Also, my diagnosis is that I have a trigger--needles--that causes this. I need to give blood more to train my brain that this is not how we react to needles. It bothers me that my body’s emergency shutdown mode is so sensitive.

Anyway, I got my piercing, and I’m very happy about it. I wanted a hoop, but you have to do a stud first for 3 months. It is made out of titanium, which is nonallergenic. The only thing I didn’t like about the whole experience was the price, but I think it was worth it. I am done buying souvenirs now, I think.