The doNExT is in

[anon3825968]

I have an appointment this afternoon. Unfortunately this morning I have to go visit the lovely people at the immigration office, that love to make very simple procedures quite complicated and long-winded. And quite frankly, given how long it takes to get an appointment, I think I’d prioritize that even if my implant site was suppurating away profusely.

Other than that, it’s still all good. The scar stings a bit from all that wrist bending I did yesterday, but it’s just the skin. The implant has turned into a bit of a spinner though.

[anon3825968]

Okay, the doc doesn’t seem too concerned (although, that’s the Finn’s outward attitude to almost anything: they might be in mortal danger, but it’s important to look mildly detached ).

He says the dorsal radiocarpal ligament in my wrist is very swollen, and one of the extensor tendons running inside it is also. That accounts for the vague sensation of bruising that takes its own sweet time to go away. He reckons the dermal lifting job was a perhaps little over-enthusiastic so close to the articulation.

He also reckons if other tendons are also bruised, they might be dragging the skin along as they move - particularly that invasive crud that’s growing underneath. But unless I have a loss of wrist movement, I shouldn’t be overly concerned at this point. If I do however, he’ll refer me to a hand specialist for immediate removal - probably something under general anaesthesia, because the situation under the skin isn’t clear and might require prolonged poking around.

As for the fibrous tissue, induration or whatever it is, he doesn’t really know. Clearly it’s an overreaction of my body, but he’s unsure of its exact nature. I’m scheduled for a biopsy in 2 week, provided nothing gets worse in the meantime.

Also, the guy is completely baffled by the hows and whys of getting an implant, let alone one that size

So, wait and rest for now.

[yeka]

@anon3825968

Also, the guy is completely baffled by the hows and whys of getting an implant, let alone one that size

Did you at least demonstrate it for him?
But good to hear, if the doc is chilled I’m too

[anon3825968]

@yeka

Did you at least demonstrate it for him?

Yeah, he was interested and curious and everything. But there’s clearly something that didn’t click in his head. Kind of like when Coma explains how much she likes getting scalpeled open: I understand conceptually, but it still feels all shades of wrong deep down. However interested the doc was in the implants - and genuinely so, as far as I could tell - and however much he understood the benefits, he obviously had the same lingering feeling.

@yeka

But good to hear, if the doc is chilled I’m too

Chilled is relative. He didn’t feel there was an immediate urgency, but he didn’t think everything was alright either. And if I start feeling that tugging feeling again, or if that funky fibrous tissue doesn’t stop spreading for good, then the urgency is on, and I’m looking at surgery.

Not happy…

[yeka]

@anon3825968

And if I start feeling that tugging feeling again, or if that funky fibrous tissue doesn’t stop spreading for good, then the urgency is on, and I’m looking at surgery.

Not happy…

I believe in you. Your body has enough experience to deal with this!

[Coma]

@anon3825968

He didn’t feel there was an immediate urgency, but he didn’t think everything was alright either

That’s pretty much what we all might think… that’s why I’m very interested in the biopsy you’re getting - I just never heard of implants behaving that way, and I just need to know what your body is doing there.
Still, I’m glad that it’s no urgency and that you met a doc who wasn’t thinking about immediate removal!

@anon3825968

And if I start feeling that tugging feeling again, or if that funky fibrous tissue doesn’t stop spreading for good, then the urgency is on, and I’m looking at surgery

Absolutely - take that all serious (don’t get me wrong, I know you do), and be better safe than sorry… if anything has the potential of doing permanent damage, it’s usually not worth it.

@anon3825968

Kind of like when Coma explains how much she likes getting scalpeled open: I understand conceptually, but it still feels all shades of wrong deep down

Yeah, that’s the usual reaction - but I think it’s really nice that you just tried to understand it (or rather, that you actually do understand it). That’s a lot more than most people try to do

[anon3825968]

The biopsy thing won’t be a walk in the park. I don’t think the guy realizes he might very well damage the implant with his scalpel - in which case, it will become unsafe, if not simply kaput. There’s a bit of fibrous material off to the side of it, but I don’t think it’s far enough to avoid damage.

Oh well. One thing at a time…

In any case, if I do end up keeping the implant, I really should get a wristwatch tattoo done on top of it, because it’s looking more and more like one.

[Pilgrimsmaster]

@anon3825968

I really should get a wristwatch tattoo

Digital or analogue?
You strike me a a classic analogue kind of guy.

Either way, as we all know, at lest it will be right twice a day…And that is more than I am with my Mrs

[anon3825968]

Hehe… Not taking the bait

I don’t wear a watch because I noticed something years ago: you’re surrounded by timepieces everywhere you go. If one isn’t within sight, it’s usually no farther than a few footsteps away. And if that’s not available either, it’s easy enough to ask someone.

So why would I bother buying and wearing a watch when society is kind enough to provide the time for me?

Also (since people always talk about biohacking their body into bettering itself) not having the time immediately at your disposal forces your brain to keep the time better to bridge the gaps. I can tell fairly accurately what time it is even if I haven’t looked at a clock for a couple of hours.

But if you’re interested, the last watch I wore was this fabulous thing: the Bradley Timepiece. It’s a watch for the blind that you can use visually also. But crucially, unlike traditional blind watches, this one is almost unbreakable.

Seriously good watch, that. I can’t count the number of meetings I attended in which I was constantly but discreetly checking the time with my fingers, unbeknown to the other attendees, to find out when the torture would finally end.

[anon3825968]

@Coma

But yeah, I wouldn’t risk the sauna in your situation

Well, screw that. I went ahead and had a sauna.

Ohmygodohmygodohmygod… It felt SOOOO good. It’d been a while!

So, I went all the way, full Titanic boiler room-stylee, but watching closely how the mini oedema that’s lingering on my arm felt. It swelled up a bit, but no more than what it does during the day at work. It deflated right down when I took a dive in the pool after the sauna (it’s 40 degrees outside), and re-inflated some after the shower. Now it’s back to what it was before I went into the sauna room. So, no harm done.

However, it did a world of good to the scar: it’s cleared all the remaining scabs and junk that were still in it, and it made it nice and supple. The scar had been pinching and pulling and stinging ever since I got the stitches out, and now it’s all gone. What a godsend! Better results that the best moisturizing cream you’ll never buy!

Check this out - day 18 today:

I don’t have the healing powers of Ottomagne, but it ain’t half bad, thanks to the magic of steam.

Re my functional problems: I haven’t felt any tendon adherence since it brutally released the other day. But the skin just ahead of my wrist, on the back of my hand, sticks to the dorsal carpal ligament. Definitely a side effect of the skin lifting job. This has nothing to do with the implant itself.

I’m doing the skin stretching exercises the doctor advised, but if I let up for a couple hours, it starts sticking again. Still, it sticks less and less as time passes. I hope it’ll pass eventually.

Unfortunately, because the skin sticks there, it gets pulled along when I flex my wrist, and when my hand is all the way down, the implant rides up my wrist and irritates the extensors. At the end of the day, my entire arm throbs all the way up my elbow. But it don’t do it, I run the risk that the skin will stick permanently. Damned if I do, damned if I don’t

The dubious fibrous funk seems to have stopped growing - I think. That’s good.

So, so far so not-too-bad. But I can’t say I’m not having regrets. It’ll possibly have been worth it if all those side effects finally clear up in the end. Thus far though, I’m only one step away from calling it not worth the trouble. I think the doNExT isn’t far from being more than my body can handle.

[Coma]

First of all, congrats to the reconquest of your sauna!

@anon3825968

Definitely a side effect of the skin lifting job. This has nothing to do with the implant itself

Might be too obvious, but have you contacted Lassi about that? Considering my two implants are directly over tendons as well and I had zero problems with them (well, the usual pain, swelling, and my body rejecting the stitches too early, but no stickyness ), I’m actually surprised that this can even happen. And he might be interested as well, even if it was his “fault” or a side-effect of his work, for it might either help him to improve or at least add something to the “what might go wrong”-list he will most likely present his customers before he does some work^^

@anon3825968

At the end of the day, my entire arm throbs all the way up my elbow. But it don’t do it, I run the risk that the skin will stick permanently. Damned if I do, damned if I don’t

I’d say keep doing it, but take care of the limits of your body - this might be a very thin line, but if you over-irritate, things will heal at least a lot slower…

@anon3825968

The dubious fibrous funk seems to have stopped growing - I think. That’s good.

@anon3825968

But I can’t say I’m not having regrets. It’ll possibly have been worth it if all those side effects finally clear up in the end. Thus far though, I’m only one step away from calling it not worth the trouble. I think the doNExT isn’t far from being more than my body can handle

If the side-effects go away, you won’t regret it after some time - you might think of a hard time you had healing that monster, but if it’s calm and nice afterwards, you’ll eventually almost forget about that. (my experience with bitchy piercings^^)
But if it’s not… well… then, it was an experience you made, and actually one that made you know your body a bit better, maybe - dunno if that’s a valid point of view for you, but better knowing “how far you can go” with your body might be interesting as well

[anon3825968]

@Coma

Might be too obvious, but have you contacted Lassi about that?

I did not.

My thinking is, I asked him to do something that, quite frankly, wasn’t too smart (as in, who in his right mind would do something like that to a healthy arm). He was kind enough to do it, with the benefit of two decades of professional experience. Now my body didn’t take the treatment too kindly, and is having trouble coping: how is that his fault or his problem?

He did the best he could and my body isn’t doing that. Tough cookie. I knew the risks before I went in. I instructed him to open me up at that particular location. Maybe I should have known better.

In short, if there’s blame to dish out, it rests entirely on me. And to be fair, I doubt there is: those are minor annoyances if I’m honest. It’s not like I’ve been crippled in any way. Not to mention, my body isn’t done “integrating” that particular new bit of kit anyway, so it’s far from certain the annoyances will be permanent.

As for getting advice on how to deal with the issues, well I did ask my doc. He might not be a body artist, but he is a doctor. No disrespect to Lassi, but I’m fairly sure I’ll get as good professional advice from a doctor who can see and feel my arm than I could get from him over the phone or by email.

Finally, I’m pretty sure he’s seen it all in 20 years. I doubt anything that’s happening to me is news to him.

So no, I didn’t contact him. I am planning on shooting an email his way to summarize how it went when my installation is finally settled, so as to not waste his time, but that’s about it.

@Coma

it was an experience you made, and actually one that made you know your body a bit better, maybe - dunno if that’s a valid point of view for you, but better knowing “how far you can go” with your body might be interesting as well

Hmm, we’ve talked about that before.

For me, cutting myself open isn’t a holistic experience, but a means to a technical end. I have zero interest in knowing how well my body reacts to stupid things I subject it to. My arm was doing fine before thank you very much, and I’m eagerly waiting for it to be doing fine again and forget about all this whole unpleasant experience as soon as possible - and finally get to enjoy working on the projects that I got the implant installed for, that I’ve put on hold for the time being.

I grok your point of view, but it just doesn’t resonate with me. Sorry

[Coma]

@anon3825968

as in, who in his right mind would do something like that to a healthy arm

Dunno, bodmod-artists and their customers? I’ve seen a lot of things that were far more strange, “not-too-smart” or just plain dangerous. And I bet Lassi had, too
It’s not about blaming him that something went differently as expected, it’s more about, hm, exchange of information, maybe. I’m used to that My artists asks by himself how everything’s going after a few days usually, and if anything goes wrong (like my body rejecting the stitches a bit too early - not his fault, either) or I’ve got any questions, I can contact him 24/7. I was concerned of annoying him, too, but he made clear that this “service” is a part of his job as well, and additionally, by just telling me “hey, that’s perfectly normal, just do X or Y or Z”, he calmed me down, solved the problem and kept me from an unneccessary visit at my local doc. Doubt that your specific problem could have been solved that way, yeah, but still

@anon3825968

No disrespect to Lassi, but I’m fairly sure I’ll get as good professional advice from a doctor who can see and feel my arm than I could get from him over the phone or by email.

Depends on you doc, honestly - no disrespect to doctors, but I’ve seen really bad ideas coming from them in regard to inflammated piercings (making things actually a lot worse). Every serious piercer on earth would have made a better decision. So, it depends on the experience of the person you visit, as usual - though things like implants should be well managed by a good doc, and it looks like yours is a fine choice

@anon3825968

For me, cutting myself open isn’t a holistic experience

Ah hell, don’t put that in my “special area of fun” - it was an experience after all, wasn’t it? Like everything you experience in life, be it good or bad. And no matter how this will end, in some decades, you can be old and grey and sit there with a bunch of other old people and tell them this crazy story of what you’ve done^^ Or just keep it in your own mind, as a reminder of what you tried to achieve with it (or, what you actually did achieve, as long as you keep it in). So I wasn’t talking about the (un-)pleasant sensation you got by it, but rather about…

@anon3825968

working on the projects that I got the implant installed for

…for example. That’s an experience as well, and a truly fascinating one I guess. I’m pretty hyped to be able to open a door just with my hand in some time, and I guess you’ve got a lot of bigger projects than that

[anon3825968]

@Coma

Dunno, bodmod-artists and their customers?

I meant “as seen by other people who don’t really understand why we’re doing this”.

@Coma

Depends on you doc, honestly - no disrespect to doctors, but I’ve seen really bad ideas coming from them in regard to inflammated piercings

My doc was pretty placid about the whole thing. I figured his advice was reasonable, and not a medical knee-jerk reaction.

@Coma

Ah hell, don’t put that in my “special area of fun”

Okay, poor choice of words. But you understand what I meant. The gist of it is, we cut ourselves open for different reasons.

@Coma

it was an experience after all, wasn’t it? Like everything you experience in life

One I could have done without. My getting a knee prosthesis due to cancer was also an experience, but I was forced to have it. My getting the doNExT implanted was voluntary, and even by my own standards, not a completely rational thing to do because all I had to do to avoid problems is do nothing.

I think that’s the crux of the issue people take with those who get implants: why would you do that when you don’t have to? Of course, they don’t understand. But in the case of the doNExT, I’m not sure I fully do myself either

[anon3825968]

@amal

This is the reason we want to make our own - iso15693 support. Spark 1 is ISO 15693… but also something else we are working on is too. We need a reader that supports both and has a great read range with all types of transponder designs.

By the way, I clean forgot:

In the interest of not reinventing the wheel, Elatec has a modular platform that does ISO14443, ISO15693 and much more (HF and LF). They sell boards without antenna, and you can contract them to do custom work. I know cuz I requested a quotation from them once, and they were perfectly happy to do any work I requested.

I have one of their ready-made USB desktop readers, built on the Multitech platform. The antennas are utter crap for implants (essentially unusable in HF, and sub-par in LF). But I keep it because it’s easily my most versatile non-Proxmark reader: it reads just about anything I throw at it. Also, the firmware is configurable up the wazoo: you can set it to scan only certain types of transponders, and it can behave as a CCID, serial or HID reader. They also offer Bluetooth versions of that reader.

If I was you, I’d consider either building implant-optimized antennas (possibly better frontends too) around their platform, or have them do it for you, to create your DT reader. I think when you might come out ahead when you factor in the lack of headache and much shorter product development time.

Maybe another round of crowdfunding? Me, I’d buy an Elatec-based DT reader in a heartbeat - and for top dollar too.

[anon3825968]

Re my doNExT issues:

The skin on the back of my hand/wrist sticks a lot less today. It still stings a bit when I flex my wrist and fingers forcibly all the way, but nowhere near as it used to. I guess the exercises the good doctor prescribed are working.

As for the mini-oedema, it’s still there, but if I stay put long enough, it clears almost completely now - even sitting down. The entire weekend of lounging on the couch that I plan on doing should help even more

This whole mess seems to be moving in the right direction at last.

[Coma]

@anon3825968

This whole mess seems to be moving in the right direction at last

This sound really good - glad you maybe / hopefully got through it finally!

@anon3825968

The entire weekend of lounging on the couch that I plan on doing should help even more

That’s a nice plan - I spent the last few days throwing old furniture into a big container, and my flexNExT commented on that by being quite a lot thicker than it was before. Sigh…

Anyway, keep us updated and keep on the good work on your implants, tendons, skin, whatever

[anon3825968]

Scar, day 21:

All in all, fairly clean and not too zipper-looking. I think the compression bandage really helped. The sauna helps too.

Other interesting feature: that big-ass vein running 45 degree across my wrist in front of the implant used to run straight on top of my arm. It completely rerouted itself to get out of the way. Quite amazing!

Also, I have a small dark mark on my skin smack in the middle of the implant that wasn’t there before. Interestingly, it’s also exactly on top of the thickest part of fibrous funk that’s grown over the implant. Probably a coincidence, maybe not.

[anon3825968]

Oh ferchrissake… The fibrous tissue has resumed growing. Aaw fuck a duck

There was two small areas where it hadn’t really taken hold yet, on the edges.Those areas were kind of filled with most of the fluid that’s still left in the pocket. Until today: I decided to spend the weekend lying down on the couch, to clear the edema for good. So those two areas have been essentially dry for 24 hours. And now, the fibrous funk has started invading one of them. It started an hour ago - I know because I check regularly.

Dammit. That’s bad news. I thought this was done and over with…

EDIT: it’s growing by the minute - almost like something congealing or precipitating suddenly inside my arm. Really scary…

[Backpackingvet]

Yeah man. I been keeping my mouth shut as I am not a doctor.

Personally I think the skin color change is probably a bad sign in conjunction with the growth. If I had symptoms and problems like you have described up until this point, I would consider going in for removal if it continues to grow.

@anon3825968

And for once, I’m almost wanting to go for some showmanship instead of sticking to the strictly functional. If the blinkies could be there with the biggest possible center cutout, I think that’ll push me over the edge…

I almost wonder if having the hole is the problem? Maybe the body just doesn’t want to deal with it.