Is it normal for a popped pimple on a new tattoo to be painful?

I got a tattoo about a week ago, its my first. Two days ago a pimple popped up dead center one of the centimeter sized hearts going around the main part of my tattoo. I left it alone and kept cleaning it and putting lotion with cocoa er on it which is what the tattoo guy told me to do. When I woke up yesterday the pimple covered the heart, and had started to pop, it was leaking pus. So I dabbed at it lightly until the pimple was gone. But when I went to clean it, the skin from the pimple came off. So now that one heart is raw, but I can't tell if there is color damage because it looks to be the same shade as the other hearts. The problem is it is extremely painful. Getting the tattoo itself was fine, its on my left shoulder blade, but this little spot is causing so much pain, its not infected and I stopped using lotion and a friend gave me a thing of tat wax. But I can't lay on my back, or side, move my arm, even walk without that one spot feeling like I'm being stabbed in the back (ok small exaggeration, but it hurts). Should I be worried? Or should I stop being paranoid about my new tattoo getting ruined?