Tattoo Life 

I got my first tattoo about 6 years ago for my late cats Domino and Daphne. It was very simple, just black with no colors. I had the heart, "D's" and eyes filled in this past March. There were no problems with it at all.

While I was in Florida for my mothers funeral in September 2023, I found a tattoo shop about 4 blocks from the hotel that had very good reviews. Since Jimmy Buffett died on September 1, and my mother died on September 9, I decided to get a tattoo to commemorate both of them.

Since Buffett fans are called parrott heads, naturally I had to get a parrott, along with a margarita. The bubbles are from his song "Bubbles Up" found on his last album, "Equal Strain on All Parts." I took it a step further, and put Mom, Dad and JB inside the bubbles.

I had that done on a Friday, and got home late Sunday. On Monday, I noticed some swelling, and redness. I got an appointment with a Primary Care Doctor at my regular practice, and lucky me, I had cellulitis. It's a very bad skin infection that can get into the blood and cause sepsis. The doctor gave me Bactrim, a strong antibiotic and it started to work within a couple of days.

In March 2024, I decided to add on to it, and went to a local Long Island tattoo shop. I also got a tattoo for my girls. The angel fish is for my older daughter, and the dolphin is for my younger daughter. They are swimming around a blue moon.

 

I added on the water, fin, beach and the lost shaker of salt. (IYKYK) Lucky me, I got cellulitis yet again, and instead of waiting for an appointment at the office, I did a video visit, and got a very nice lady doctor from an NYU office in NYC. She looked at the redness and agreed that I had it again, and gave me another prescription for Bactrim. It worked yet again, and within a few days it was all cleared up.

The third time's a charm, right? When I saw my regular PCP for my quarterly check up in September, I asked for a prescription of Bactrim, since I was going to get another tattoo in November. I added on the lizard, palm tree and flip flops, and on my left arm I put on a microphone since I was in radio and still do and internet radio show.

(Notice the lizard at the bottom left corner)

(There's the lone palm with flip flops on the bottom right)

(My 3" microphone)

After 2 days, they started to get red and swollen again. I took the Bactrim and had an allergic reaction to it! I got a rash in a couple of places, along with some sensitivity on my chest. I just can't catch a break.

I went to see the PCP who had helped me the first time, and luckily she didn't say "I told you so." She gave me a prescription for Amoxicillin 875 for 10 days.

After 3 days, it wasn't working, or so I thought. So she gave me Clindimycin which is a very powerful antibiotic. After 3 days of that, I woke up at 6:30 AM with a burning pain in my stomach. I drank some water, and woke up a couple of hours later. I took a Zantac and was better in an hour or so. 

I sent her a message telling her what happened, and I was going back on the Amoxicillin, which I still had 7 days worth. As of this writing, the redness and swelling has gone done considerably. If need be, I still have enough Clindimycin to finish it off.

Do you think I've learned my lesson? Yes indeed, no more tattoos for me. I can't go through this again!