OK, I'm off to get a tattoo finished. You guys are awesome lol, can't wait to see you all there!

Getting a CF Man tattoo?? 😀

Monte, CLOSE! 😄

Aren't some of the best tattoo shops out in Vegas? Seems like a group visit could be a perk.

I could always use more ink. 😉

Mark, did you get sedated while getting your tattoo? https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/cowboys-were-shocked-to-learn-that-dak-prescott-had-to-be-sedated-for-11-hours-to-get-a-tattoo-this-offseason/

Wow. Um, so, I didn't think that was actually legal. My artists don't allow any form of pain reduction, or any other kind of drug or alcohol use during the procedure. My latest took 8 total hours, 2 sessions of 5 and 3 hours respectively.

Wow I had no idea either! I guess the rules don't apply if you are famous. I actually have been wanting to get a tattoo for some time but because I have fibromyalgia, it's going to be extra painful and a lot of artists won't even touch you, so I've been kind of putting it off for awhile. I have endured some very painful things in my life (let's put it this way - I've had several kidney stones and those weren't even close to being the most painful) but it's different when you are choosing to endure it vs. having no choice.

My artist and I just had that exact conversation, pain you choose vs pain that's inflicted. Somehow the choice to endure is easier than when you aren't ready, or haven't selected to take it on. My 2nd session was pretty rough, I probably could have waited longer but wanted it healed up by Summit, and the thought had occurred that if this was pain I wasn't choosing I would have been on the ground writhing. But instead I just grit my teeth and kept on keeping on.

Oh that's interesting, I was thinking it was just the opposite. Perhaps not in the amount of pain you FEEL and how you react to it, but more in whether you can endure it or not. I know some of the pain I have had to endure I most definitely would have never agreed to put up with (in more than one situation I was really upset as they were medical procedures they were doing on me without adequate sedation. A particular memorable one I was screaming at them to stop and the doctor just kept going anyways. I will spare you the details of what they were doing but suffice to say I've never experienced pain like that and hope to never again.) But yeah you are probably correct, that if that was a situation where I specifically said "I want to be awake, don't sedate me" I likely would not have been screaming at them.

I think definitely the TYPE of pain and area matter greatly too. For me, lower arm, skin, it is a pain but not... critical? If that makes sense. Also, this was a payment of sorts. Yes, it hurt, but on the other side, I would have this life-long art.

Oh for sure on different areas being worse. That's particularly true for fibro where we have "tender points" which are essentially areas where even a light touch can be painful. And yes, payoff matters a lot. I had laser hair removal maybe 30 years ago? That was very painful (before I had fibro though) but the lifelong payoff was worth it many many times over.

OUCH!

LOL yeah the one I remember was when I had to have a scope for pneumonia after being in the ER for 4 days while they debated what the cause was. You cannot do anything but sedation since you can't put a breathing tube in, so I told them, I do not sedate easily. I remember them giving me more and more and I'm just sitting there looking at them like, nope, still here. They did eventually get me sedated enough that I didn't remember the procedure but they said I was never under as much as they would have wanted so they got in and out as fast as possible.

oof 😞

I was glad to finally get a diagnosis and get back home! Turned out to be an infection as a result of a wisdom tooth extraction done a month before that! 6 weeks of heavy duty antibiotics to knock it out. Not the last time that I had something that doctors took forever to figure out!

Egad Mary Jo 😞 What a rough ride.

Yeah I've been through a lot. But I survived stage 3 cancer and am considered cured at this point, and everything I've been through makes me appreciate all the more where I am today. I consider myself one of the lucky ones.