Lifesavers for Latasha

Before Chris and I even got married, we talked about getting wedding rings tattooed on our ring fingers. We ended up just going the traditional route and having actual wedding rings.

Over the years, I would have to not wear my rings at times because my fingers were swollen. After my hospitalization in 2016, when I lost all the excess fluid, my rings were too big and I had to have them resized.

Then, slowly, my body started holding onto excess fluid again, which caused my fingers to swell, and my rings wouldn’t fit. I think I had to get them resized again. It was definitely frustrating.

When the doctors started seriously discussing transplant, Chris and I talked again about getting matching ring tattoos. As the doctors went back and forth about whether I needed a heart transplant or a heart and lung transplant, Chris and I went back and forth about getting the tattoos.

At one of the appointments for transplant evaluation, the doctors told me I could not get any new tattoos after my transplant, because of the risk to my immune system with all the immunosuppressants I would be on after. Chris and I talked about the ring tattoos again, and we decided if we were going to do it, then we needed to do it.

So, for our 10th wedding anniversary in 2022, Chris and I finally decided to get matching ring tattoos on our ring fingers. Chris thought we would get a tattoo of a ring around our fingers, but I wanted something with our initials. So, we decided on interlocking hearts with our initials in them. It was a celebration of us being together for 10 years. After I have my transplant, it and my two other tattoos (flip flops on my left foot and my name in Korean on my left wrist) will remind me of all I’ve gone through and how my life has changed, hopefully for the better, even if I can’t get any future tattoos.