Tattoo complete

JennyD78 · February 2020

Back when I decided
that I would get a bilateral mastectomy with no reconstruction in 2018, I knew
that I'd get my chest tattoo'ed to cover the scars. Not because I hated
the scarring but because it was the perfect canvas on which to do the memorial
tattoo for my grandparents that I'd been wanting to do for 20
years.

It took about 9 hours
over 3 sessions and hurt like the buggery! Over the scars was fine
because that's still numb but close to the armpit and over the sternum was
rough. I used a numbing cream for the last session and that helped
enormously. The oxycodone I took probably helped too lol.

I gave my tattooist
the references and she designed the whole thing. My references were
lemons for my grandma who used to always make me lemon butter from the trees
they grew in their orchard. The feather is the colours of the Rhode
Island Red chickens my granddad used to breed and show. I've also put in
a little nod to the town I grew up in with the jacaranda flowers. The
rest is just design elements the artist put in to tie it all together.

I'm beyond happy with
it, I love that I get to look at a piece of art on myself forever! I'm
not sure if I'm allowed to put the details of my tattooist here so I won't
initially, feel free to message me if you'd like her details. I'm in the
Newcastle, NSW area and so is she.