FAILED EAR PIERCING JOURNEY (INDUSTRIAL) WARNING GRAPHIC IMAGES

(Sidenote: I'll include pictures right at the bottom, so if you can't take it don't look!)

BEFORE THE PROCEDURE
So on the 20th August I decided to get my left ear pierced. 
Not just any piercing, oh no, but an industrial one. 

So I went to Birmingham Bullring and went into the shops, it was quite pricey (40 quid) which I had pretty much spent my money anyway so I couldn't get it done then.
I shoulda thought of it as a sign.
So I decided to get it done in my local piercing place. 
And if I had a time machine, I would whizz back and NOT walk into that shop, but sh*t happens.
So I walked in, filled the forms in, laid on the bed and let me tell you, my friend was more nervous and more shaky than I was. 
I shoulda listened to her and walked out. 

THE PROCEDURE
As the lady was explaining what was going to happen, I noticed that she didn't mention anything about a numbing cream, which me being me I thought she will numb it but yet again I was dumb and didn't bother asking. 
She showed me the bar which was a thick bar.
I asked 'Don't you usually put in 2 separate rings and after you insert the bar in'. 
She replied 'yes, we do that do, would you like the rings or the bar?'
Say 2 rings, nice and simple.
'The bar please' I stupidly replied.

 So as I laid back I tilted my head to the right and let her poke a needle through my ear. I felt a warmth explosion coming out of my whole body when that first needle went through. She explained what was happening as I obviously couldn't see. I heard my friend wincing in pain as if it was happening to her. Then the second needle went through and oh my lord, why the hell do I put myself through this ish for?

After she screwed the balls in, I got up looked in the mirror and LOVED it. I was so happy and so pleased with it. The lady took a picture of it, I paid for it and left.

THE AFTERMATH
I felt soo aware of my ear after that. I was so cautious walking and preventing myself from bumping into people.

Later that night I had tennis, so I went and played, it took my mind off from the pain. When I got home I was so happy to share it with my family members. Now lemme give you a quick background check of my mom. We are totally opposite, what I hate, she likes, what I like, she hates. So obviously she wasn't too keen on me getting another piercing but eventually she came around it and was okay with me getting a piercing done. UNTIL....

Until I came home and showed my brothers, the HATED it, in fact they LOATHED it. It put me off cause I was just soo happy about it and well its like buying a cute puppy and no-one likes it but you. like guys please, lets share the love around here. but nooo. 

So after a couple of days I cleaned it with Sea Salt Water three times a day like I was told to do. The annoying thing was my hair got tangled in between the balls (hehe, the barballs) so i just cut part of my hair to prevent that from happening and pinned my hair away from my ear. 

UH-HO TROUBLE BEGINS
Ever since I had got it done, I had not been able to sleep well cause of the constant pain it was causing. like a police siren flashing it's lights, but in case of lights it was the throbbing in my ear I was feeling. 

I did a lot of research and found that my ear was matching the symptoms of an infected piercing however I checked that as I had 2 piercings done, it was bound to be sore and hurting, so I was stuck in between not knowing what to do. So I left it. BIG MISTAKE!

After a week I began to see a difference in my ear, the top curl bit of my ear started to get swollen up, I panicked and emailed the piercers and went to the doctors the same day.
On the 29th August (Thursday) the doctor started me on antibiotics,which I had to take 4 a day and said 'If there is no difference by Tuesday, come back' So I took the antibiotics and my mother being a mother she is couldn't bare to see me in pain so she took me back on Monday.
Oh did I almost forgot to mention it was definitely infected as yellow pus was constantly coming out and I took ice-cubes with me to sleep to stop it from hurting. It didn't work :(

MONDAY 2ND SEPT 2013 I went to the doctors and the doc said 'We'r gonna have to take the bar out. and my oh my, my heart dropped. I was like okay as long as it stops the pain I'm all in. What goes in, must come out.
However it didn't come to my mind that if it hurt whilst I got it in, it had to hurt when I got it out.
As the doctor started to unscrew it, I felt the balls turning and I held my mom's arm and dugged my nails in that muthaf****** arm and damn, it hurt. She unscrewed one end and took the bar bar out and I instantly started to cry yes I cried, if it was you and in the same pain, you would be crying too. Crying seemed to be the only option to do other than screaming and squeezing my mom's arm. She started to unscrew the other side and got the bar out and I screamed as I had to let the pain go with the scream if you know what I mean. 

(sidenote: I never cry in public, I hate it when other people see me cry. but damn at the doctors I just didn't bother at all. It was legit NO PAIN NO GAIN)

The 2 holes in my ear began to bleed, so the doctor pressed tissues on it. She prescribed me more antibiotics to take for the week. great! being drugged up again (!)

(it was funny walking out of the doctors room, through the waiting area and out. They probably heard me screaming haha)

The week went by and the shape of my cartilage disappeared and a great big lump formed. It killed, more pus was coming out and It was frustrating cleaning it up 24/7. I had to cancel all plans because of one stupid piercing (technically 2 but who cares). I was so mad at myself. I couldn't do anything. The painkillers, paracetamol, ibuprofen NOTHING helped to ease the pain. I had not slept at all at night, ever since I had got it done, So I was cranky all the time. Then on the weekend my mom got her book of home remedies and made a paste and applied it to my ear and WOAH the pain went away straight away. It worked like a miracle however the lump was still there. 

MONDAY 9TH SEPT 2013 I went back to the doctors and the woman was shocked how it all turned out to be. She referred me to a hospital who I would see an Ear Specialist. thank the lord for those! So off we went. It took 30 mins to get there. Signed in with the A&E place and we waited.. waited and waited.. until after 2 hours I got called in and saw a doctor. I explained the situation to her and she brought her colleague who I had to explain the situation to him again he looked like Arnold Schwarzenegger but less built.Then they called in another doctor who I had to explain the situation AGAIN. 

Then the bomb dropped

They told me they had to open it up, squeeze whatever was inside my lump out and stitch my ear back up. I asked 'am I gonna feel it?' He said 'yes, there is no point of injecting an anaesthetic as there is already so much in your lump' 
I shat myself. I thought okay lets get this over and done with.
I laid down again, turned to the right again and thought damn, if I wasn't nervous when I got it done why am I nervous now for?

They were explaining the procedure as they were doing. The doctor picked up the blade and cut the lump. I bloody felt it. I was like being cut open literally. I cried automatically, I couldn't hide the pain any more. I was not strong. I felt the doctors finger pushing the blood and pus away. I felt my warm blood going down my neck (I was more frustrated that it got on my hoodie but thank the lord for washing machines) . She cleansed the area with something pink, I don't know what it was but some kind of cleaning thing. They told me the worse was over for me so I kinda took a sigh of relief until she did my stitches. She poked the needle through one end of my ear attaching a soft fluffy cotton pad, to keep my ear together. 
she said 'its not going through' *HEART DROPS*
other doctor said 'lets get a bigger needle' Oh shoot! 
He went out and came back with a bigger needle and said 'a special needle for a special person' and I'm there like 'no thanks. I don't wanna be special no more'
She carried on and poked the needle through, I breathed out the pain. She took the needle back in through again and it hurt. She tied a knot and a nurse came in to clean me up. 

My mom was there nodding her head like 'I told you not to do it' but I was just too much in pain to argue back. 

I got a bandage on my ear and was told to come back again in a week.

I'm not gonna lie I got some sleep after a coupla days, thinking my ear will go down and obviously with the much more stronger antibiotics I thought I'd be better now but NOPE.
My luck was stuck up in mars and was not with me.

MONDAY 16 SEPT 2013 Sitting down in the waiting room forever, I finally got called in. The doctor took the bandage off and the stitches out and he said the dreaded words 
'we are going to do it again' 
HEART DROPS, STOMACH DROPS,EVERYTHING JUST DROPS
'but we will put you to sleep'
HEART RISES, STOMACH RISES, IT ALL ALRIGHT

I was gutted it didn't fix up cause this has gone waay to long but glad that I was gonna be put to sleep so I don't feel it.
The antibiotics didn't work as well, some people react differently towards it and I was one of those people surprise surprise(!) that didn't have a reaction from it, so the lump occurred again hence they had to do surgery on it. 

THE SURGERY
I went back on Tuesday, stayed the night over in hospital obvz got no sleep. The doctor came to see me before the surgery and explained the procedure and what they were aiming for. So I had the surgery done around 8.40 in the morning. They put the gas mask on me and I laughed my way to sleep. I woke up an hour later and was taken back to the ward. I was tired when I woke up but realise there was a massive bandage over my head. The same doctor came to see me again and told me that there was ALOT of blood and pus in and they managed to get it all out. He tightly did my stitches hence the bandage around my ear. I was also prescribed to more antibiotics as per usual. I just lost total faith in antibiotics tbh 
However he said that I may have lost the look of my cartilage and they do not know how my ear is gonna look like. 

So me being me, I did some research and came across 'cauliflower ear' where the shape of your cartilage is lost and it makes me sad cause my ear is not gonna be normal and 'pretty' no more. and is funny how one little thing turned out to be such a big deal. 
I have been able to catch up on my sleep ever since the surgery properly. 
If I knew this was gonna happen I would defiantly NOT got it done in the first place. It has put me off piercings and I LOVED piercings. 

UPDATE: MONDAY 23RD SEPT 
Its Monday and off I went back to the hospital again, wishing it was the last time I'd be there. After signing in and waiting for an hour, I saw the doctor. He cut the bandage off and took the layers from my ear and the stitches out. As soon as he did it, he was impressed with the outcome. The lump from my ear had disappeared but my cartilage was swollen up but looks wrinkly and flat. The doctor said, the swelling will go down hour by hour, day by day, week by week, okay you get the point. It will heal up and go back to it's normal shape. 

To be honest I'm only gonna be relieved when my ear has gone back to normal, before I was panicking that my ear was gonna be totally messed up, but now hopefully, it shall go back to its normal shape. 

Another good thing is, I am off my antibiotics! whoop! Which they made me feel sick anyway's.

I don't have to go back anymore. I am sick of seeing hospitals now. I am legit scarred for life! guys, try not to get yourself into any mess. Think twice before you do anything! Life is way to short to be in any kind of pain! 

This is one experience that I am never gonna forget, so I just wanted to share it with yall. Just wanna say thanks, for reading my Failed Ear Piercing Journey.  I will update this  to let you guys know how it turns but just a note if any of you wanna get a piercing done:

- make sure your piercers are legit. 
- watch a youtube video of it first to see how it should be done and what to expect.
- make sure your not allergic from the metals used and if you are. Mention it to your piercer.
- If you see any symptoms of infections go straight to your piercers and then the doctors.
- if you are considering an industrial piercing, go for the separate rings instead of the full bar.

Wish me luck for the future! 
Peaace! 

✌

UPDATE 21 JANUARY 2014
I had an appointment in December at the dreaded hospital again!
The doctor said that my ear has defiantly improved and that I should be careful that I don't knock it on anything, if I do a blood clot may form and another surgery will be in process. So i'm extra careful. My ear does itch and hurts only once a month. I can sleep on my left side but I tend not to incase I knock it. That's it for now. It's all going good! 


PICTURES!

This was when I firstly got it done.

This is what it looked like after I had taken the piercing out

Urgh! What it looked like when my mom put some stuff on it

What it looked like in one week after the first unsuccessful surgery

What it looked like after taking the bandage off from the second surgery

What it looked like in November

What it looks like in January