We pulled it off today. It hurt less than I thought it would, though enjoyment wasn’t really in the cards for me—it was perfectly fine all things considered. Like others have mentioned, getting into the receiving tub seems to be the trickiest part.
I’d never been pierced before this moment. The gauge is 8 ga Bleeding was minimal First pee stings a bit but then it settles down nicely. Having some beers afterwards probably didn’t help with the comfort. But what can you do! So far I’m really happy, just eager for healing to kick in now. I’ll put up my blog update tomorrow covering all the details of how it went and what I experienced. Rich