JasonM

Back from Hong Kong and everything went really well. The design and placement was a little different then I was expecting but overall really happy about everything. 16 total hours over 3 days. The last day was a little uncomfortable but overall the pain was very tolerable. All I ended up taking was Motrin to help with swelling. Not sure if it did or didn't help. Had a good breakfast every morning and unfortunately really didn't get a chance to experience much of Hong Kong. After each session was just ready to get back to the hotel. Attached are some pics. The detail of the brush stokes will be more visible once it's healed.

I have one other tattoo on my forearm, but smaller. I understand the forearm is one of the easiest spots but I could have laid there for hours. But I'm not naive and realize 1) The back is more painful, 2) After a certain amount of time the body reacts in ways you wouldn't expect and just says enough, 3) Back to back is going to be even more sensitive and painful, and 4) I realize I'm going to feel like I got hit with the bad flu after my body goes into shock for that week. That's why I asked about the antibiotics to helps counter act that.
So . . . am I prepared for this . . . absolutely not, but this is kind of a part of this personal journey. Probably stupid and will do nothing but I've been laying on a bed of nails to build up tolerance to long periods of discomfort. I've been hitting the gym and eating well to get my overall health and immune as good as possible for the trip. Got all my vaccines up to date. Been doing tons of research and I've had ongoing dialogue with the artist and she's pretty confident on the process for the week.
Also the design/style will be very spread out, so there's no real concern about going into the same area.
But with all that said, I know I'm going to be in for a rough experience. Above it all I HATE long flights!! The longest flight I've been on was about 10 hours. This will be another 5 hours plus the way back with a fresh tattoo is going to be hell!
I probably should have joined the forum sooner, but I figured I get the remaining questions out there in these next couple months.

Thanks. I'm extremely excited. I wanted it to not just be about the tattoo but the whole experience. The best advice I got was find the artist who's work is exactly what you want then figure out how to get to them. I wrote this whole idea off years ago but it ate away at me. So I booked about two years ago and made it happen. It 's insane I'm less then 3 months from take off!

Thanks. I'm extremely excited. I wanted it to not just be about the tattoo but the whole experience. The best advice I got was find the artist who's work is exactly what you want then figure out how to get to them. I wrote this whole idea off years ago but it ate away at me. So I booked about two years ago and made it happen. It 's insane I'm less then 3 months from take off!