Going in for Tx#5 in Two Days

My arm tattoo is still overall grey with spots of darker ink. The eye of the snake that was dark before is now very light. Not sure if my dermatologist will give the entire piece a once-over or just continue to do spot-control on the ink.

My back tattoo has more breakage on the left shoulder, I suppose due to it being closer to my heart. Hopefully the arm tattoo will be gone by summer, and the back tattoo will be lighten more significantly.

Finished my fifth treatment on my back tattoo a few hours ago. The laser strength was the same as last time, but hurt less than before. According to my dermatologist, it's due to less ink being present in the piece. Since I started to practice meditation regularly, and apply meditation techniques during the treatment, I find the pain much more tolerable. If you stay with the sensation, you realize it isn't as tough as it may seem.

We're no longer treating the arm tattoo and will just let the hyperpigmentation resolve on its own. She is quite optimistic about the back tattoo and quite surprised at how much has been eliminated in just 4 treatments, despite the original work being very dark and dense. I bought a package of three more treatments, spaced between 6 weeks. We will take a break for the summer then continue to see where we are in the fall. Seeing the pictures, I see the breakage overall is quite uneven in some places, but there are some parts where I see through to my skin, especially near my heart and in the center across my spine. Overall the blackness has dispersed. Hoping by next year this project will be over with. In the meanwhile, I've been taking good care of my body.

Had my sixth session yesterday. A lot of fading from my last session and a good amount of the ink, especially around my spine, is showing skin color. Still a long way to go though. I imagine a year and a half more, or at least four more sessions. I'm getting progressively better at handling the pain. Still very painful though, and was shaking a bit toward the end and after. The next session is planned for late April and will be the last in my 3x package before I hit summer. I'm imagining with corona everything will be delayed, but I'm not in a rush and hope that social distancing will help us contain the disease swiftly, or at least by the end of summer. Still aiming for full clearance.