There’s an old joke that goes something like this…

A player, new to the game of baseball is having the ins and outs explained to him while watching a game.

As batters come up, they swing, miss, some hit of course.  But a bit later, the batter is up.

Pitch… ball.

Pitch… ball.

Pitch… ball

As the last pitch is ready to go, the person helping the newbie explains “If this last one is a ball too, the batter gets to go to first.  He’ll get walked.”  The newbie looks at the person helping them, thinks for a minute, then goes back to watching.

Pitch… ball.

With that, the person explain says “He gets to walk, he’s got four balls!”

The newbie stands up and start cheering madly.  He yells to the runner… “Walk with PRIDE my man, WALK WITH PRIDE!”

Now, I won’t claim to have four balls.  But I will say that the new PA has a tendency to introduce new swagger.  It’s a great feeling that I went through with something that was more than a little scary, but is awesome.

The latest update is that things are fine.  No bleeding, no … nothing.  Just getting used to having a ring there and trying to imagine what things will be like going forward… in a good way.  But that’s for another post.

One thing that I have not seen mentioned anywhere at all, and that surprised me when I had this done a couple days ago, was the initial jewelry size.  The 10g ring wasn’t unusual, but the circumference of the ring was surprising. It’s big.  Very big.

In talking with a few other people that had it done, they experienced the same thing (whether they had a ring or a barbell).  The initial jewelry is oversized so you can determine what works for your own anatomy.

So, don’t be surprised if the ring is a 7/8″ diameter or something close to that. It looks abnormally large.  The thinking behind this is that you need to find out how your body reacts to the ring and piercing and find out how much your stuff changes when you get an erection.  This all comes in to determine the final sizing of the ring or barbell.

Day 2

As a general status update, Day 2 had some bleeding, but nothing big deal.  I used a maxi-pad… one.  it stopped bleeding later in the day.  The blood wasn’t a big deal at all, but would have been a pain without the pad.  I have a new-found respect for the periods that ladies have to put up with.  I mean, those pads work great, but getting them in and positioned … just not something I’ve ever had to deal with.

A little pinchy-type sore (see above for the big ring stuff, that I think is a big cause of this).  But nothing at all that was a big deal.  I would describe it as an itch-level annoyance. I can see some very, very slight puffiness, but I can certainly understand that given the piercing that was done less than 24 hours prior.

Day 3

No bleeding at all.  Puffiness has gone down, but not gone.  It’s a bit more annoying today with the bigger ring.  I may go back to the piercer early in the week to try to get the ring swapped out.  I’d like to go down perhaps to a 1/2″ or so.  I don’t know the options and I don’t know their suggestions/recommendations or issues swapping it out so quickly.  We’ll see what they suggest.

I’ve had no stinging when peeing – something you see people talk about quite a bit.  I’m not sure why I haven’t had it, but it just hasn’t been there at all.  I’m feeling really good about how it’s healing and settling in.

Also getting over the shock that I went through with it finally and have it!  So cool.

Today was the day.  I went to get my Prince Albert (PA) piercing and boy was it different from what I expected!

First, I was really freaked out about going into a shop, dropping my pants and getting poked.  I mean, who does that?!?

The shop we (Charmer came with me) went to was selected after a lot (believe me, obsessive that I am) of research and reading reviews, talking with people, etc.  It was spotless.  I was worried that I wouldn’t follow through, so I made a specific appointment with them.  I figured it would be harder to break. 🙂

We showed up and the shop is immaculate.  The people are very, very nice and knowledgable, they answered any question I had straight-up without flinching.  Let’s face it, they’ve probably heard all of the possible questions 100 times before.  But they were really cool about it and took the ring we agreed to back to the autoclave and to get the room ready.

The piercer has been doing this for a looooooong time, and was completely aware of what was going through my head.  He explained how it would all start and just that it would be fine.  Good gawd, you’d think I was having a major life-threatening surgery or something with the questions in my head.  I mean, with what you see online –

– make sure they sterilize with an autoclave (they do/did)
– ask about aftercare (I did, but they had already covered it)
– ask about experience (they offered it in advance)
– look for how clean the room is – it was immaculate
– look at their tools and needles – are they wrapped and sealed?  Yup.

I had all of these checks running around in my head from horror stories you read and hear about.  I was feeling pretty good that I knew what to expect.

Then it happened.

“Drop your shorts to your knees and have a seat…”

Alrighty then!  I guess we’re really going to do this.  Now, I’m not one to just drop my shorts willy-nilly.  Let alone in a store.  But there I am, piercer and assistant, Charmer and me, just hangin’ out.

I sat back in the chair and then it was lowered back to laying down.  I was concentrating hard… on closing my damn eyes!  Then he wanted to show me what he was going to do.  “This is the receiver tube…”  Great. Move along now.  I don’t need to see the needle and other goodies.  Thank you.

He put in the receiving tube.  It wasn’t a big deal at all.  It was a little pressure, a little “zing” and it was in place.  No problem.  He was teaching his assistant too, so a little dialog about “see, you can see where it is here, and line it up exactly with the mark we made…” went on.  No problem.  Then he tugged on the receiving tube just a small bit.  That was it.  It was over.  He told me it was done, that he was putting in the ring.

I felt the ring slide in and adjust, then he was done.  No searing pain.  No pain at all really. Just shock. I honestly had no idea he had even done it.

The ring is in, a couple of drops of blood so far and doesn’t even sting to pee.  Amazing.

Afterward we got a great discussion about what to expect, what changes there will likely be, when we can play around again, etc.  We also talked about sizing, about what to keep an eye out for.  Super simple.  No sweat.

We left and got lunch – to talk about it and watch me be stupid giddy with relief, adrenaline and excitement that I did it.  I went through with it and I couldn’t be more excited.

Some questions:

Can you get a PA if you’re a grower?
Yep.  I can vouch for that.

What if you “turtle” when you go in there?  Won’t they laugh?  
It’s OK.  What would YOU do if someone came at you with a needle.  Of course you may turtle.  They even told me ahead of time.  It’s not a big deal.

What if I get an erection?
It’s OK.  They can mark things easily and wait for you to calm down.

Does it hurt?
Seriously…. no.  In my case, there was a small stinging sensation as the receiving tube went in.  A bit of pressure when he pierced.  A small sting when he put in the jewelry.  I got snagged by my cat a day or so ago – it hurt more than this did.

Doesn’t it bleed like a mother?
Not in my case.  One thing he did that I thought was really smart, he pierced at a size smaller than the jewelry, then stretched up around the jewelry.  It made it seal better to the jewelry and kept the bleeding from happening.  I’ve had a couple spots, but…

What does it feel like?
Too soon to tell, but so far, it’s not a bad feeling at all!  I’ll keep you posted.

Does it burn to pee?
Not so far, not at all. I understand this is unusual to NOT have the stinging for a day or three.

Why would you do this at your age (50ish)?
‘Cuz it rocks.  And because it’s something I wanted to do, simple. SO glad I did.

I’ll keep you posted on healing and other goodies.