We asked Doc if it was okay for me to get a tattoo over my left chest to commemorate the removal of Kuato and she was surprisingly supportive. Apparently, it is not uncommon, though a Google search turns up mostly pink ribbons (and having learned a little about the insidiousness of Breast Cancer I completely understand why).
What I am trying to do know is figure out what I want and what would be fitting. I'm looking for comments and suggestions. Here are my ideas so far:
Spider
A play on my last name combined with (like a snake on a caduceus) the dual symbolism of healing and poison. I was thinking of a knotted spider sitting on a web that stretched between my many scars. M is not a fan of this one, saying it would be gross and morbid.
Tsuba
The guard of a samurai sword. The story I heard was they were made to be works of art so that the last thing your opponent would ever see would be beautiful, but I like it more for its actual purpose as a protector. What to put on it is the question. The common battling dragon and tiger motif is one idea (also happen to be M and my Chinese horoscope signs), as well as possibly combining the spider or kraken ideas, though I haven’t found a good model yet.
Kraken
This one I keep coming back to. To me it represents mystery and loss. The mystery of how I got cancer (it doesn’t run in my family) and the ever constant threat of its return. Plus the permanent damage it and the chemo have wrecked on my body and all the losses that have come with that. But to me mystery also represents hope and the future; there is so much we do not know about this limited reality in which exist. It is the desire to unlock those mysteries is what pushes us forward and makes us grow, both as individuals and as a species.
It also happens to be a really kick-ass rum.
OTHER TATTOO IDEAS
though I don’t see it on my chest.
And I want the line, Still is still moving (Willie Nelson), maybe on my forearm.
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