I’m old school. I’ve never had a tattoo before. Never wanted for one either. In fact, I always thought they were only for sailors, wrestlers, or bikers.
But I got one anyway even though I wasn’t in either of those groups. Not because I wanted it but because I didn’t want cancer either. Imagine, a tattoo that helps prevent cancer. But more on that in a minute.
Today it’s quite different. Lot’s of people are getting their skins inkulated in multiple colours. In the US it’s reported that over forty million individuals are feeling proud to wear their skin customized by a tattoo artist.
It’s not just burly men either but ladies too are getting it done in all manner of unimaginable places. They are part of the growing number of people that have them and who are crazy for more.
Take Chris Wenzel for example.
Chris went a step further.
He was an incredible artist who lived in Saskatoon Alberta. He ran a small business there. A tattoo studio to be precise. His artistry was devoted to designing and then permanently embedding those creative images with ink into a client’s skin. He not only did to them he did it, or had it done, to himself.
All over himself.
Obviously, he loved the medium of ink on skin — or ‘skin-art’ as it’s called in the industry. But Chris had a hunch he wouldn’t be around for very long. Before he passed away in his sleep on October 31st the 41-year-old had asked his wife and business partner to consider his post-death request. He wanted his tattoos to be preserved in a frame behind glass as his memorial.
Apparently, Chris had earlier reached out to a company based in Cleveland, Ohio called Save My Ink Forever.
He had made arrangements so that, when the time came, they would perform the necessary procedure. It can be complicated. It involves the skin to be surgically excised, preserved and then professionally conserved behind glass. The process takes about three months and, in his case, costs about $80,000. His wife had agreed. But to get it done wasn’t so easy.
Five funeral homes in Saskatoon refused to allow it in their establishments. Finally, a sixth one, Mourning Glory Funeral Services gave it the go-ahead. It will be the largest skin-art preservation of its kind in North America to date. But nothing like that will ever be done to mine. Not even if I paid eighty large ones for it.
That’s because my tattoo is not just on me. It’s in me.
See, I didn’t want a tattoo. I didn’t even ask for or pay for this one either. In fact, it wasn’t even done by a recognized tattoo artist. But it certainly was done by a real live professional. Although he wasn’t wearing jeans and a sleeveless t-shirt and a bandana on his head. No. My guy is more a plain-Jane-white-coat type.
He’s my colonoscopy specialist.
He had removed a small polyp on the inside wall of my colon a few months earlier. This year it had grown back. He showed me a snap of it on his computer screen in his office. Apparently, it was a cinch to quickly find the exact area because the doc had skilfully, and strategically, placed a little purple dot of tattoo ink on the colon wall near the spot where he had previously pulled off the offending wart.
So, he got it again and this time he carefully cauterized the area before he left. Not much chance of that thing making another appearance.
I was to go back in for another procedure sometime early in 2020. When I did it was clear that there was no further occurrence of that ugly growth. It was completely gone.
My doc said I should come back for one last time in about five years. That’ll be just before my seventy-fifth birthday when I age-out of the system for this kind of procedure.
Some advice: If you’re getting long in the tooth like I am I suggest that you have yourself screened for colon abnormalities. If polyps are allowed to grow for too long they can become malignant. If they work their way through the colon wall then the chances of your system becoming exposed to cancerous cells goes way way up.
Then you could be in real trouble. So, don’t delay.
Colon cancer can be prevented. My tattoo tells the story of how.
Keep healthy. People love you.
More power to you.
Mobiusman.
PS: There is a lot of magic happening in your gut. Ever had a gut twinge telling you what direction you should take and it turned out to be right? That’s your second brain at work. It’s important to know that you can optimize both brains together to make sure that you not only have good information coming to you but that you have better information coming through you. To get the lowdown on how this works to set your mindset up for greater resilience jump on this link and join me each Saturday for a quick live video. See you there.
