Tattooing After Surgery and How I Realized I Needed It Part 1

When I began my tattooing career back in 2021, I never would have imagined that barely three years into my career that I'd have to get surgery to repair a work related health issue. Only months into 2025 I started to notice a pain in my right wrist, but I chalked it up to sleeping on it wrong or a minor injury I never noticed. However, it started gradually getting worse, turning into sometimes unbearable pain that would numb my fingers and palm. Know that feeling when you get those awful muscle cramps combined with the spicy tingles you get when a limb falls asleep? That was becoming my everyday. I tried lidocaine bandages on my wrist, small exercises to help my wrist and hand, wrapping it, and more. But how do you stop using your dominant hand long enough to help it heal? I had no idea at all. I used it for work, drawing, cooking, cleaning, doing my hair etc. But I just kept thinking it would magically go away on its own. Spoiler alert: it did not.

After a couple months of epsom soaks, lidocaine patches and braces, I noticed something weird with my hand when I was driving. Why did it look like my right wrist had been broken in some bar fight over mozzarella sticks and never set right? I waited until I got home and compared my two wrists, and yup. There was an odd and noticeable bump on the side of my right wrist right by my thumb. I took pictures and sent it to family members and friends just trying to see if maybe I was over thinking it. Nope. I was not. The general consensus was "wth is that?" and "what did you do", all of which my answer to was "I have no flipping clue." But did I go to a doctor? In this economy? Ha. No. Looking back though, I definitely should have.

I kept working and creating art like I always had but the pain never left, hand got shakier, and Pedro the bump was only getting larger. Pretty soon I'd probably have to start charging this bump rent for how much space it was taking up on my wrist. Eventually people started noticing it who hadn't before and that's when I heard the term 'ganglion cyst' for the first time. Most peoples suggestion: leave it alone, its not doing anything and will probably go away on its own. Or do what people do online all the time and let someone slam a large book on it to pop it. Hell to the no. I said no thanks and I'll just ignore it and hope it gets better on its own. Boy oh boy was that a decision I really really regret now. But as the bump started growing and almost earning its own area code on my body, the hand numbness and wrist pain getting worse, I actually started thinking "shit... what if this needs surgery?".

And that's exactly what ended up needing to happen. One day I was a brave girl and drove my butt to an urgent care and waited a few hours for them to give me a pain shot, put my wrist in one of the craziest corset type braces I've ever seen, and was quickly rushed out with a referral to an orthopedic surgeon. I was told it was indeed a cyst, albeit a big one. Eventually I got in with the ortho guy and go in thinking they'll probably just lance it in the office and send me on my merry way. Nuh-uh. The doctor comes in, looks at my wrist, does some weird doctor voodoo and says "yeah you have a cyst for sure, but your real issue is your carpal tunnel.". Huh? Did I just hear that right? Carpal tunnel? Isn't that an elderly person issue, or something only people who type on a computer all day get? I asked a few questions on how to fix both issues and what I basically got was that there was a temporary fix where they could insert a large needle into my cyst to try to drain it as much as possible and then give me another shot in my wrist to help with the pain and hand numbness. But that would only be a temporary fix. The cyst would definitely come back, especially since it likely came to life because of the carpal tunnel, and the only nonsurgical way to keep my hand to stop hurting temporarily would be to keep getting shots in my hand and wrist. So I asked how I could get better permanently. Surgery. The big "S" word I had feared but thought I was overthinking as a possibility. The recovery time could be 2-4 weeks depending on severity and healing but I may also not get full normal hand function for upwards of 6 months after. Holy shit. Well when you work in an industry where your money maker is your hand and if you don't work you don't get paid, that's extremely scary. How would I make a living? How would I get enough money saved up to pay bills in case I had to be off or work part time for almost half a year at worst? I left that appointment with a surgery date and my head spinning from all the decisions I'd have to make. But I knew I had to come up with a plan, one for how to live and recover and one on how to keep myself sane when I couldn't do what I love: creating art.

In part two I'll explain how I got to where I am now and how I stayed afloat while recovering.

Thank you so much for reading my lovelies!

Isha Luz