Your tattoo is (probably) not as meaningful as you think it is.

[Ms. Toad]

28. Interesting.

We joke about the fact that I have 3 tattoos before my daughter (in the piercing/tattoo generation) has any.

I have 3 targeting dots for breast cancer. But I'm pretty sure they didn't actually use then - relying instead on sharpie marks they put on the first day of radiation.

And - I'm considering getting a tattoo to turn the scar from a second cancer into something symbolic and beautiful. Due to cancer discrimination/selective lobbying, only reconstruction for breast cancer is covered as medically necessary. Even though no one can tell I've had a partial mastectomy on one side, I would have been entitled to double breast reconstruction. Reconstructing my forearm, which is ugly as sin - and visible anytime I'm not wearing long sleeves - is cosmetic (so I'd have to pay for reconstruction out of pocket). (The scar in the image below is from removal of a kidney-bean-sized tumor. It was approximately 5" across before the graft shrunk. Sarcomas are extremely aggressive, and require a full cm of normal tissue be removed. I had scars from prior biopsies, so they had to remove a cm around the edges of those scars.)

So if I get a 4th tattoo, it will be just as meaningful (in a different way) as the targeting dots. My forearm will never look "normal" again, even with reconstruction. If I have to pay for it, I may as well pay for something I would enjoy looking at.

I'm envisioning a sunflower (the symbol for sarcoma) using the scar as the center of the sunflower.