I don't think I'd have had the cojones for that. The doing it myself part. Or maybe at all, but definitely not doing it myself.

What the kit was, was a plastic holder with one of those starter earrings in it, and you had to squeeze the thing hard enough to break a piece of plastic, which meant you were squeezing hard enough to get it through the nose. I didn't do a very good job and still have a scar, ftr.

My brother the doctor has convinced my sister that almost any other kind of (non-genital) piercing is preferable to a nose piercing, from a medical safety perspective. I suspect my niece will have to wait until she's out of college and no longer getting any support from her mother before she gets one.

Huh, that surprises me. First, I guess, just because they seem so common, and secondly, because I have one and have never had any problem with it. And I even had it done in India, under what I suspect were less than entirely sanitary conditions! (On the other hand, I figured, if any country has figured out how to do nose piercing right, it's got to be India, right?)

almost any other kind of (non-genital) piercing is preferable to a nose piercing

So what are we looking at--ear, nose, nipple, tongue, lip, eyebrow? Yeah, I can see that about noses, they are filtering the junk and leaving it right there, no?

I'm assuming taint is covered by the (edge of the) genital clause?

I'd think tongue is worse-- I've heard it's super bad for your teeth?

I'd like an eyebrow piercing. And some of the not-visible ones, although I'm unsure given my low low pain tolerance.

I thought navel piercings were fairly prone to infection, and tongue rings too.

Human mouths are supposed to be pretty nasty, but I always figured nostrils were worse. Never really thought about a well-maintained navel.

Well, no, actually well-maintained navels are pretty much the only sort I try to think of.

Wow. Bad health news about my mother.

Someone set my expectations: white blood count too low for chemo--how bad is that, and what can you do in a week to fix it?

I'd think tongue is worse-- I've heard it's super bad for your teeth?

I had a tongue piercing for a while, and I never learned how to avoid banging it against my teeth. Which is why I no longer have a tongue piercing.

I am jonsing for a new tattoo. The next one is the memorial tattoo for Mom.

Oh, I'm sorry to hear that bad news. But I can't be helpful with perspective at all; I have no idea what that means.