Tattoo to reward a long, hard, but worth every minute, journey!

April 6, 2009 9:01 PM

Ideas for evidence of my success as new ink! I just successfully completed another huge milestone in my nursing career. This road has been very long and stressful, to date the hardest thing I've ever done. It is also by far the one thing that I cannot get enough of. I love what I do, I love being a nurse and I love learning. I have several tattoos already, but this one is more of a reward and a reminder of my love for nursing and the hard work it took to get here.

I have ruled out the typical Caduceus, and Star of life. I like the ECG rhythm, but it's become very common. I like words, and beautiful fonts.
If everyone didn't have "breathe", I would get that...
*breathing is what kept me moving forward, and my nerves at bay
*my job is to keep people breathing! :)
*i can finally breathe and concentrate on enjoying my life and career instead of passing tests!
But too many celebrities with that tattoo.

I would like to incorporate nursing as well as the hard work and success I have achieved. This will be small...ish <4 inches, somewhere out of site; just for me

posted by kgreerRN to Media & Arts (15 answers total)

Maybe you could do a picture of a nightingale (for Florence)?

Or if you like words, maybe you can take a meaningful word or phrase from the nurses' oath. "Endeavor" seems to be a fitting one.
posted by rmless at 9:11 PM on April 6, 2009 [1 favorite]

An open-throated songbird. It's breathing, and it's making music, and it will make you happy.
posted by amtho at 9:34 PM on April 6, 2009

I said this in the other tattoo thread -- but why not something from Gray's anatomy or another antique anatomy book? Some amazing plates in there and something that shows the amount of work to see/know/fix the body is always inspiring. Also the passage of time, a reminder that knowledge changes (stay current). You could get the lungs as a reference to breathe or another vintage anatomy diagram.
posted by barnone at 9:36 PM on April 6, 2009

Really liking rmless' suggestion - "endeavour." Very cool.

Dunno if this would fit the bill, but perhaps the five steps of the nursing process (assessment, diagnosis, planning, etc), inscribed in a circle, in a font you particularly like? (Am not sure whether this could be done at a scale of less than 4 inches, though.)
posted by arachnid at 9:57 PM on April 6, 2009

I'm in nursing school and my classmates and I have joked about getting Florence Nightingale's face - like maybe on our necks - with "FLO" in fancy lettering underneath.

More seriously, how about a big back piece of your lungs! Or at the subtler end of the spectrum - a little oxygen molecule somewhere?
posted by serazin at 10:05 PM on April 6, 2009

"Nurses do it 24/7" or "Nurses do it PRN"

in a nice font, with a little white nursing hat with the red cross on it?
posted by Grlnxtdr at 10:34 PM on April 6, 2009

What about a "cross-section" image? For instance, if you were to get a tattoo on your inner arm it might show the structures of bone and muscle that would be underneath if your skin were see-through.
posted by rossination at 11:15 PM on April 6, 2009

What is the milestone you've achieved? Graduation?
posted by The Monkey at 11:37 PM on April 6, 2009

I once saw an EMT with a "Biohazard" symbol tattoo and found it to be totally, totally awesome. We are walking biohazards, after all.

And congrats!!!
posted by grapefruitmoon at 4:18 AM on April 7, 2009

"Air goes in and out, blood goes round and round."
posted by wenestvedt at 7:19 AM on April 7, 2009

Response by poster: The Monkey: I am a new Nurse Practitioner.
wenestvedt: Where is that from? I like that

I love all the ideas of O2 and lungs and symbolism for breathing! We're on the right track. Keep them coming!
posted by kgreerRN at 7:34 AM on April 7, 2009

If you want to continue the idea of the O2 thing, perhaps the oxygen square on the periodic table.
posted by DrDreidel at 7:46 AM on April 7, 2009

The oft-recommended Science Tattoo Emporium has quite a few medical-themed tattoos. A source of inspiration, perhaps?
posted by Quietgal at 8:51 AM on April 7, 2009

Late late late to the thread but I found it and this etsy artist around the same time. Maybe ya'll could get together on something. Congrats on the NP degree!
posted by dog food sugar at 1:34 PM on May 18, 2009

Breathing got me thinking of O2 transport, which got me thinking that the structure of heme or hemoglobin would make a pretty cool tat. Nice, symmetrical molecule. Alternately, you could go with the molecular orbital map of O2 or a spirometry strip.
posted by The White Hat at 7:58 PM on November 22, 2009