Sarah, Plain and Simple.: Go to bed earlier, Sarah. You do dumb things.

**DISCLAIMER: do not read if you're overly squeamish! I've made it as wimp-friendly as possible (meant affectionately, of course), but I can't tell this story without details that may make some people squirm.)** It's actually a pretty great story though (sorry about the length), so read on if you can!

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I do dumb things when I'm tired and bored. This is why I'm vowing to stop losing track of time, and start going to bed before three in the morning.

On Wednesday morning at about 1:30am, I went into the bathroom to brush my teeth before I went to bed, and got distracted. I wonder how a 3rd piercing would look on my right ear, I thought.

I picked up a skinny earring and held it up to my ear, trying to picture what it would look like. It was too hard to tell with the post in the way, so I gently poked my ear to make a little dent so I could see the placement. I noticed two things: one, the placement looked perfect, and two, it didn't hurt at all when I made the little dent.

Of course, my overtired brain told my far too under-sensitive body that I should press a bit harder, just out of curiosity, to see how much pressure it would take to break the skin. I still didn't have any intentions of going any further at this point. Haha, point! Sorry.

I did as I was "told", and pressed a bit harder. Still barely hurt. One thing lead to another, and I could feel the tip on the other side of my earlobe. To my puzzlement though, it wouldn't go any further. If it was just a thin piece of flesh, why wouldn't it budge anymore?

I was kind of at the point of no return - if I took it out, there would be an obvious mark, so why not just finish it off? I gritted my teeth and held my breath, tightly holding my earlobe with both hands on both sides of the earring, and used my thumbs to press as hard as I could.

POP! That sound won't ever leave my memory. Fun fact: the POP sound is the sound cartilage makes when it breaks.

THAT WAS CARTILAGE?!?!? At this point, I'm elated that I finally got it through (I'm assuming I had been at it for probably over a half hour), but really freaked out and super confused - wasn't there just supposed to be flesh there?!? I guess I really DO have small earlobes...

I went to sleep after I cleaned up all the blood and supplies, and tried to not roll over onto my right side. When I woke up the next morning, I was convinced that it was all just a dream. Imagine my horror when I walked into the bathroom and discovered that the person staring back at me in the mirror really did have three holes in her ear. Oooooh crap man.

I realized quite quickly that I couldn't just leave it like that - the earring I had used was really cheap quality, and WAY too skinny to be in a brand-new piercing. I looked at the earring on the counter that I had got my first holes pierced with when I was nine, and knew what I had to do.

I'll spare you most of the details, but it basically went the same way as the first time, only quadruple the pain. But after I heard another loud POP, I knew I had done it. I figured that since this earring was a lot thicker, the cartilage would have to pop more or something.

Feeling a little nervous...

Close-up

Side-shot (normal, left ear) - apparently the pictures are flipped?

Side-shot (pierced, right ear)

I went to school later that day, proud of myself, but pretty sore. My ear was a bit swollen and pretty red, but that was understandable considering what I had put it through. Everyone said it looked great, and how crazy yet brave they thought I was, and I was happy that I had gone through with it. Then a thought occurred to me - HOW in the world was I supposed to hide this from my mum?!? I was surely dead if she found out. I covered it with my long hair, and desperately wracked my brain.

I started off with reiterating what a great teenager I am, since I'm not pregnant, have never been drunk, and have never done drugs. Then I whipped my hair back and showed her, quickly following it with an explanation in a desperate attempt to calm her flabbergasted face and startling squeaks.

After she had calmed down and saw that it wasn't infected and was in the right place, she left my room with my promise of never piercing anything else again by myself.

Of course, it got super infected. All throughout Thursday, I was sure that my ear would simply explode and I'd be expelled for splattering my prof. It thankfully somehow managed to stay intact though, and as I was sitting at my laptop that night talking to my friend on Skype, I was beside myself with worry. My right ear was at least twice the size of my left, and so red it was basically purple. I could no longer fit the back of the earring on, so the earring had nothing but a very swollen earlobe holding it in. I don't have any pictures of it at this point, but you can imagine.

Miraculously, my friend convinced me to go to a walk-in clinic the next morning. I went reluctantly, armed with a lot of knowledge that I had read on the internet. The doctor finally saw me, and confirmed with his silent, gaping mouth and wide horrified eyes that I was the biggest moron on the planet. He wrote me up with a prescription for antibiotics, and told me to take out the earring.

So, I hopped on the next bus and headed to the mall for a second opinion from someone who knows about piercings. The girl at the jewelry kiosk confirmed that it was a TERRIBLE idea to take the piercing out because then it couldn't drain, and was very helpful and kind with helping me know what to do from this point. I bought a hoop, which allows for more swelling and doesn't trap bacteria in, and picked up sea salt rather than antibiotics on the way home.

After a LOT of blood, pus, and pain, I got the hoop in and disinfected my ear for the millionth time, soaking it in warm salt water. It already looked and felt SO much better. YES!! I just hoped that it would continue to heal, and not get worse. The only bad thing that I noticed though was that there appeared to be two holes at the back... I guess that explains the second POP.