!Getting Nervous and Trying Not to Think of the Future!

I know I shouldn't be looking at the tattoo this early after a treatment and trying to imagine when this all will end, but I can't help it. I mean if I think about this logistically and how very little is getting taken out from time to time now. I really can see my self needing like 10 treatments more! My only other thought is that I need to slow down and put at least a couple months between each treatment as I was initially advised. I guess I fell into the impatient trap as I have been doing treatments every 5 weeks...should I fall back to every eight weeks?. I just don't want to wait. With summer here, I am also risking tanning the scar which makes it look darker, so I think, "should I just wait until fall to resume treatments?". Decisions, decisions, decisions....and I am now over two-thousand dollars into this experience, so saving money is a huge incentive too.

When I went for my last treatment, Allison, whom usually does the treatments, was out on maternity leave, so I got a new girl. She is really new...meaning she had just been trained for laser tattoo removals. What an experience that was! The assistant, who is usually there, gave me the anesthesia injections, and she doubled me up. I think she gave me about 100-120 injections, and usually I can only feel the epinephrine just slightly, but this time my heart was racing!  Well, the new girl doing the treatments was so slow zapping me, because she wanted to do it just right...understandable. But I was getting really anxious from sitting there so long and thinking, "oh my god, the anesthesia wears off really quickly...hurry, hurry!". Anyway, it went fine, and like I said before, I never felt the after burn which could of been due to the assistant giving me so many injections! But one interesting thing this new girl said was that after the treatments are done the tattoo will continue to fade, so I am now thinking does this mean I have to leave ink in there? Will there come a day where they are like, "let's take a break and see what happens"? Scary! I don't know how not to be nervous right now, but I was told this is when it really gets hard...and I feel it!

Any suggestions? Should I take a break, slow-up, or keep going?

Bye, Bye Burn...

On this last treatment, the heat for the "black" laser was turned up to 9 which is one level under the max. I was freaked out for the potential healing implications, but it went well! I actually peeled today almost wholly. I usually take many days to peel entirely, and I don't even begin to peel until after seven days. I am only at day 6 today.  I am not sure how this happened, but this was the best bout of healing so far!

One of the best parts of this past week was that I didn't even feel the burn...not once. I am not sure if it has to do with the amount of heat harming my nerves so much I didn't even feel it or if I am adapting to the burn to where it doesn't even enter my consciousness anymore. Not sure? I just feel like it all flew by.

The only downside was the amount of bruising. Right away when I took off my bandages, the tattoo itself was purple (never seen that before), and it hurt to the touch instantaneously. I have often wondered what causes the bruise...the force of the pops...the heat of the laser? I am still not sure, but there was an increase in heat and an increase in the bruising atop the tattoo...so? I took some pictures of the purpleishness, but often when taking pictures of my tattoo, I will look back and realize the pics I took really were not good (too much glare..etc).

Some pics I really want to share are those right after a peel, because the tattoo looks pretty scarred and really pink. I thought it might help those persons just taking off the burnt skin for the first time feel a little better, because it gets a lot better. In a about four to five weeks, it will look a lot less tinted. (This is also why I cannot take progress pics until just before my next treatment.)

Here I go again.....

Well, I can't believe I have already done this to myself seven times, but I am sitting icky with blisters again. Looking at the pics from each time to the next is getting less and less thrilling, but here is the side-by-side after #5 and after #6. Tell me if you notice a difference?

The one thing I see is a bit of browning (in the center) from getting too much sun, but apparently here in Arizona even avoiding direct sun exposure and wearing sunscreen under my clothes, doesn't appear to be enough to keep away a tan. Bummer!

I wanted some drama, so I made a pic showing my progress so far from beginning to now. This is the left side:

I mean I lost a lot of ink, but how persistent is this! My only recourse for happy thoughts is that maybe with a few or five more treatments and a tan - I think it will blend?

This is comforting, but the image on the right is a little darker than it should be!