IZation Labs

Once again, I know, I’m a week behind, so here’s another double post, and if all goes well, some photos too, which you can click for a full size view.  If you are horribly squeamish and can’t stand the sight of a tiny bit of dried blood, ignore the pictures. If you’ve missed the other posts describing what’s going on, just click here, and don’t forget to subscribe to the posts using the link at the top of the page!

Nov 5th, 2009
10:57 AM

I find it very fitting that the implant was done the day after my birthday, and the day before the 5th of November. (Guy Fawkes night.) My birthday represented the start of my third decade of life, and Guy Fawkes night represents not just one man trying to make a difference in the world via the movie V for Vendetta, but standing up and wanting to make a difference in general. Plus, I love that movie.

Another thing this project has made me notice is that I’m a very impatient person. Not impulsive, I didn’t jump right into this project without thinking. I did tons of research before even considering the possibility. In fact, I first did research on RFID implants nearly 2 years ago. It wasn’t until I revisited the subject that I decided I should start asking questions of the people involved and collect as much data as possible so I could consider the pros and cons. Obviously the pros outweighed the cons.

Here comes the impatient part. Once I had decided that the project was a go, I did everything in my power to make it happen as quickly as possible. Perhaps that could also be described as efficient. Either way, acquiring funds, ordering, and waiting for the tags to be shipped was a very impatient time for me. Instant gratification, my dear mother always said, I always want it now. Well, mother, I want it now because I’m sure of my decision, and see no further point in arguing or waiting. Of course, the world doesn’t really work that way.

Now I find myself impatient for the incision to heal over so I can remove this bandage. Now that’s something I can’t rush, but I’m doing everything I can to speed it along. Eating well, sleeping longer hours (which translates to at least 7 hours a night for a college student), and especially taking it easy on the hand which was injected. Luckily for me, typing doesn’t seem to strain it much.

I’ll be changing the bandage in a few hours, so I’ll take the first post-op pictures then.

Nov 9th, 2009
11:00 PM

A recent visit to my home town saw me introducing and demonstrating the implant for my mother and father for the first time. I was sitting at a table on my laptop when she came up to say goodnight. All I did was say ‘Check out what I did’, and move her finger over the spot where the implant can be clearly felt underneath the skin. After one or two what-is-that’s, her brain focused and she exclaimed ‘Did you put one of those things in your hand’.

After the initial shock that her son had gotten up the nerve to have a RFID tag injected into his hand (and trust me, after everything I’ve put my mother through, that didn’t take long), we showed it to my father, with very similar reactions.

First I showed them the test videos of the rfid being read through my skin via my card reader. After that I showed them the video of the actual procedure. They got a kick out of the whole thing. “At least it’s not a tattoo! You could have that removed no problem,” mother said. I responded with ‘Well, actually, that’s whats coming up next, and proceeded to tell her my upcoming plans which are exempt from this specific journal entry. My father was just as interested, asking questions throughout the video. They noted that I was chewing gum vehemently, for which I could only say “I was quite nervous.” Chomping on that gum was slightly therapeutic.

The incision itself is healing up very well and very fast, I might add. I stopped wearing a bandage on Sunday, and have been wearing one off and on since then, though I no longer think it is absolutely necessary. It’s pain free, shy of the tiniest possibly imagined tenderness that goes with the healing process. I’ve been taking periodical pictures every day or so, and expect within another week it will be mostly healed.

I remember reading someone’s thoughts on how the implant has made them reflect on how the human body, specifically the flesh and skin layers, are assembled and held together. I believe it was by Amal Graafstra. I can very clearly understand what he means, now having one myself.

Though I can not feel the implant in my hand, I can obviously locate it with the fingers of my opposing hand to examine it by touch, and let me just say that the sensation is strange indeed. The skin slips and slides slightly over the implant, and the implant could actually move around at this point between the layers in which it is embedded. I know this because it’s orientation to the incision point has actually changed by about 30 degrees since I had the procedure done nearly a week ago. This odd new way of viewing skin as the organ it is, a kind of loose sheath over the rest of the body, has opened my eyes to how disconnected it is from the flesh underneath. It’s really quite odd. If you ever meet someone with an RFID implant, ask them if you can feel it, it’s strange and worth the ‘enlightenment’. Maybe then you’ll see what I mean.’

There you have it. Expect a final journal entry and possibly some test footage showing off the tags read range, as well as a summary on how I feel about the entire experience. If you’ve got any questions or comments, post them below or drop me an email.

–Lace