Saturday

It's day one with my new piercing

I am carefully

Almost obsessively looking after it

I bought alcohol free mouth wash

To rinse my mouth twice a day

And also ear buds 

To clean it with salt and water

I am terrified of it getting infected 

So am being super duper careful

I've heard a couple of horror stories

About people who continued to purge after getting an oral piercing 

And went on to develop painful and unsightly infections

I am determined not to let that happen 

And haven't purged since Thursday

It's actually a really good motivator not to purge

So I have stopped bingeing 

And stopped eating anything that I usually purge

I am being careful and considered with my portions 

And stopping eating before I get uncomfortably full

Eating little and often 

And distracting myself after eating 

I'm glad I got the piercing done 

And am going to use it as a symbol

Of my stopping purging

I don't usually count my clean and sober time 

But having seen the benefits of counting my smoke free time 

Marking the first week

First month

First year 

I have started to count my clean time

Since Valentine's Day

It's good because the longer time you get 

The more you don't want to go back

So now I'm going count my purge free time 

Starting 3rd of March

The day before yesterday

Like a lot of things in my life 

Once I wrap my head around something 

I generally can do it 

I did it with cigarettes 

Drugs 

Alcohol

So why not purging?

It's just out of the question at the moment 

And that is a minor revelation

Reactions to my piercing have been varied 

My Mum is horrified

My nephew barely acknowledged it

I've had a couple of double takes from strangers this morning

I live in a small rural area

And there are not many tattoos or piercings to be seen generally

So yes 

I have the only pierced lip in the village 

Lorraine 

The girl who pierced me was great

When I got my nose pierced 

The girl who did was just a little bit unhinged 

She spoke at a rapid rate

And told my sister and I some pretty personal stuff 

How ever 

She did a good job 

And that's the main thing

Lorraine was very professional

Answered all my questions 

I watched her prepare her tools 

She was very careful

And it seemed like she was very used to doing this 

Well I would hope so

It is her job after all

My sister and I chatted to her for a few minutes 

She said that piercings follow trends 

Just like any other item of fashion

She told us that intimate piercings are popular at the moment 

That she had done two the previous day

I had to ask her what exactly gets pierced down there 

'The hood' she replied matter of factly

Ahem 

That is going just a little bit too far for me

I draw the line at a nipple 

Once you get one done though 

It kind of makes you want more 

I can see how that would be the same with tattoos too

I would love to get my tongue done 

And my belly button 

And a few in my ear

I've wanted to get some piercings done ever since I was a teenager

But 

Life intervened 

And I never got around to it

So now 

At the grand ol' age of 34

I am reliving my lost youth

Better late than never I guess

And the pain 

I was pretty much prepared for the pain 

Having had my nose done last year 

I figured my lip would be much more painful and bloody 

I sat on my hands so I wouldn't be able to pull her hands off me

Like I did last time 

I can't lie 

It was bloody sore 

And I did bleed 

And I did swell up

It looked liked I had been punched in the face 

I was actually shaking when it was over 

She asked me if I wanted to lie down for a few minutes

But I said I was ok

All in all 

I really enjoyed getting it done 

And grateful that my sister was with me 

It's exciting and fun to play around with my appearance 

Experimenting I guess

Again 

It's doing things that most people do in their teens and early twenties  

But 

I'm enjoying it 

So why bloody not!

With all that said 

I was wondering about you 

What piercings do you have ?

How painful did you find it?

Are there any other ones you'd like to get?

Inquiring minds want to know....