Tattoos, Surgery & Diabetes: Adapting to the Familiar and Uncomfortable
Back in October of 2017 I went to get my eleventh tattoo. It’s been awhile since my last one. Walking into the tattoo shop immediately sent a reminder of the similar experiences of having needles dipped in ink punctured into your skin for a permanent piece of art. I have tattoos on my back, arms, and legs and was familiar with this process after having gone through it many times before.
As familiar as it was there were some differences. The tattoo guns apparently appear to be more silent. If you are familiar with getting a tattoo you can remember the sound you hear of the machine immediately when you walk in. I was taken back a moment when my ears did not hear the familiar sounds despite the fact multiple other people were being tattooed at the time.
My tattoo artist also changed a little bit over the years. Barry, my tattoo artist at Waukesha Tattoo Company, has done all ten of my current ones and I would not have chosen anyone else to do the eleventh. He first tattooed me at the age of 18 and now being 33 it’s been a number of years since seeing one another.
However, when it comes to the client and tattoo artist relationship you get used to talking a lot when sitting in a chair for up to five hours without moving. Then, you leave and might not come back for another year or so for your next one. In between then, a lot can happen in both our lives that leave plenty of catching up to do.
This tattoo was set to take about five hours long. Unfortunately, as much as I have done this before, I was poorly prepared. The appointment was set for 4:00pm and most likely was going to last until 9:00pm. At the start, everything was going as expected. The pain and the process was familiar. But, over time some of my poor preparation started to kick in.
To start, with the appointment being at 4:00pm I did not anticipate what I was going to do for dinner. The last time I ate something was during lunch around noon. Also, throughout the entire time I only drank one bottle of water. On top of that, I was lying in an awkward position (since the tattoo was on the inner side of the leg) that was causing discomfort on my injured shoulder at the time (which you will read about later). No food, lack of water, and additional pain created the perfect recipe to get a migraine.
Going into the final hour was a tough stretch. There were times I was starting to feel nauseous and thought of nothing more than to call it quits and come back again. Unfortunately my stubbornness for pain and giving up interfered with that decision.
Next to me there was a young girl who was getting her first tattoo. After awhile she could notice the agony I was going through in the final minutes. She looked over and said, “I know it hurts but I’m surprised it’s hurting so much since you have so many other ones.” In my head, I sarcastically said let me know how it feels the next time you get one and see if anything changes. But, I stopped and responded by saying, “The more you do this the more you get familiar with being uncomfortable; but in all these years nothing much as really changed regarding the pain of getting a tattoo.”
Tattoo number eleven was finally complete. This was one of the few times I cared less about looking at the tattoo and wanted nothing more than to go home. But, I had to make sure what I went through was worth it and by far it was. Barry, nailed it once again. I immediately drove home, stopped at McDonalds, crushed two bacon, egg, and cheese biscuits and went straight to sleep.
Less than two weeks after getting the tattoo I went in to see my orthopedic surgeon regarding my shoulder. In October of 2016 (over a year ago now), I received a MRI that showed a bone spur in my shoulder which was causing tendinitis and a pinched nerve. Over the course of the year I attempted to use an anti-inflammatory medication, tried a cortisone injection, and engaged in physical therapy regularly. Unfortunately, all of these attempts did not fix what was wrong and the decision was made to have surgery.
Part of getting surgery requires you to have a physical done in order to show you can handle surgery. I went to my physician and had a routine check-up that included blood work. I was hopeful that recent blood work I had completed at my endocrinologist two months ago for my type one diabetes would have all the information they needed. Of course, the blood work done for type one diabetes is different.
I sat down in the familiar looking chair and glanced over to see all the necessary medical tools necessary to draw blood. The nurse began preparing everything and said, “With you being a type one diabetic I’m sure you are used to this process.” For the last twenty plus years I have been getting blood drawn at least two times per year in order to see how some of my organs are functioning cause of the risks type one diabetes poses. After all these years needles still hurt when they get pushed into your arm and I get a little queasy after the blood slow gets drawn back. No matter how many times I have done this I still have the similar experience.
Both experiences relate to what type one diabetics are often told or referenced to regarding their diabetes management: we should be used to it because we do it so often and repetitively. The longer you have this disease the more people begin to think you are doing okay with it because by now you should have a handle on things. Part of that is true; while we do get better at managing our diabetes it does not mean the experiences associated with it have necessarily changed.
Needles still hurt. Insulin injections and finger pokes are painful. Low blood sugars are scary and high blood sugars are annoying. Being attached to an insulin pump (for me) or other insulin delivery systems gets old. Having to do this multiple times day in and day out gets tiring. As long as we have this disease these things will not change. Maybe the way we do it changes, but what we go through does not.
Life with type one diabetes teaches you to adapt and become more familiar with the uncomfortable. Similar to the experiences of getting a tattoo and having blood work completed. All of my tattoos have been painful at one point or another throughout the process. The amount of pain is not something you can often control or get used to. However, you get better at distracting yourself, talking to the tattoo artist, shifting mental focus from the spot of the tattoo to another part of the body, or holding on until the next time the artist washes the tattoo with the solution (which brings amazing relief!). Needles, being punctured into your body for hours, are going to hurt. But, the more you do it the more you get used to being uncomfortable and adjusting to it properly.
The same experience with getting blood work completed. I still do not like the needle being shoved in a vein and the blood being drawn slowly back. However, I get better at making sure I am not looking right at it, improve on taking deep breaths, and practice mental distractions to avoid thinking about what the nurse is doing to my arm.
When it comes to type one diabetes management I continuously learn how to adapt better to the uncomfortable parts of living life this way. I learn how to cope better with telling myself I need to change my insulin pump site, or that I need to test my blood sugar now instead of later, or dealing with high or low blood sugars.
A low blood sugar still gets me dizzy and frustrated. In the past, a low blood sugar would lead to so much anger that I would eat a ton of food because of the annoyance and lack of patience which would result in having a high blood sugar.
With a disease that for now I will be living the rest of my life with how often could I go through that? I had to learn how to adapt with the uncomfortable. I have certain foods in my house used for low blood sugars that I consume, sit down and take deep breaths, and patiently wait for my blood sugar to return to normal. This doesn’t change the original experience of being dizzy from the low blood sugar; but it changes how I deal with it and adapt to what will always be uncomfortable.
This is a lesson I often teach with clients as a counselor. The more we are familiar of something the less we should be surprised by it. It’s amazing to see people’s reactions to things they have already experienced or have known about. Take for instance one another. How many people do you know do things that are annoying, frustrating, or irritating? Yet, how many times do you still act so surprised or shocked when they do it? The more you know how someone is going to act, the better you should be at learning how to deal with it.
The key to diabetes management for all these years has nothing to do with getting used to the pain and discomfort. The pain and discomfort is a part of the experience. My body will likely never get to a point where a needle being injected into my sides or stomach will be pain-free. But, how I learn how to cope with it and move forward is the area I can control and focus on. Instead of being surprised at the fact a needle can hurt I should be more focused on how to help myself deal with it when it is likely to happen.
Tattoos, blood work, and type one diabetes teaches you how to adapt to being more prepared for some of the uncomfortable things we have to deal with in life; but not eliminate them