Well today was the day. 8/23/01. (please excuse any typos as I am on vicodin and valium - and I kinda feel like dancin [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img].

9am Dr McClellan of NHI. I was to have 1200 FU's into the front area (norwood 3a). First of all, NHI runs the most professional office I have seen, after many visits to others for consultations. I am still impressed after my procedure, of course the results will take some time to really determinde success. After going thru all the paperwork, Dr M came into work with me on harline placement. He spent a lot of time to make sure it was right, and I was happy - no pressure to hurry, he genuinly wanted me happy, no matter how many times I made him "do it again" (I am anal and picky).

I was given the following pills : 2 anti swellers, 2 valium, and 2 yellow kick my ass something that starts with an X. I was offered and accepted laughing gas as well. 15 minutes after this, Dr. M started to num the donor area. I was soo worried about this as I've read of major pain during this. It was sooo easy, no pain WHATSOEVER. A couple of pricks and my whole head was numb, not pain no discomfort. Made the dentist seem like Dr. Mengela.

By 10am we had it right and I ws in the chair. ALL the office staff was incredible. I struck up conversation with a few of them (when alone) and they all said how they had worked at NHI for 5+ years and were very happy in their jobs - seemed legitimately caring and very professional. A VERY good sign for me. Lots of experience and happy employees speak volumes as to NHI's practices.

The good doctor proceeded to remove the donor strip and offered me a look. WOW, less than 1/2 inch by 4-5. All ONE strip (no hack like the multiblade knife produces). 5 people immediately started dissecting it into FU's. I watched VH1 and all seemed to enjoy the ambiance [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]. I may have dozed off for a few min. Seemed to have wasted no time and had all 1475 FU's done in perhaps 1 hr - what tremendous team work. Turns out my donor area is very good and thick (2.6 cm)

Doc came in to create recipient areas, changing instrument after every 100. He said to keep it sharp and limit scarring. 2 of the techs immediately started inserting grafts, ALL 1475 - woohoo. Dr. M came in to check on progress every few min., and create more receptor areas.

By 2:30pm (4 1/2 hrs total) I was done and eating lunch (which was awesome btw), before my limo showed to take me home. All meds provided, including a neck pillow. Post op instruction were included and verbalized. These guys are first class!!!

Took a nap when I got home, woke up in some pain as the anesthesia has been wearing off, but the meds work to keep in check.
So far, I kick myself for not having done this 2 years ago. I can see the stubble and it's going to be awesome in the next 4-6 months. No real scabbing att all so far. Also zero scarring in recipient sites (donor area still bandaged). But.... I am amazed that the recipient area looks like it is normal stubble growing out of my noggin NO slit/scar marks and very little blood crusts.

Well today was the day. 8/23/01. (please excuse any typos as I am on vicodin and valium - and I kinda feel like dancin [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img].

9am Dr McClellan of NHI. I was to have 1200 FU's into the front area (norwood 3a). First of all, NHI runs the most professional office I have seen, after many visits to others for consultations. I am still impressed after my procedure, of course the results will take some time to really determinde success. After going thru all the paperwork, Dr M came into work with me on harline placement. He spent a lot of time to make sure it was right, and I was happy - no pressure to hurry, he genuinly wanted me happy, no matter how many times I made him "do it again" (I am anal and picky).

I was given the following pills : 2 anti swellers, 2 valium, and 2 yellow kick my ass something that starts with an X. I was offered and accepted laughing gas as well. 15 minutes after this, Dr. M started to num the donor area. I was soo worried about this as I've read of major pain during this. It was sooo easy, no pain WHATSOEVER. A couple of pricks and my whole head was numb, not pain no discomfort. Made the dentist seem like Dr. Mengela.

By 10am we had it right and I ws in the chair. ALL the office staff was incredible. I struck up conversation with a few of them (when alone) and they all said how they had worked at NHI for 5+ years and were very happy in their jobs - seemed legitimately caring and very professional. A VERY good sign for me. Lots of experience and happy employees speak volumes as to NHI's practices.

The good doctor proceeded to remove the donor strip and offered me a look. WOW, less than 1/2 inch by 4-5. All ONE strip (no hack like the multiblade knife produces). 5 people immediately started dissecting it into FU's. I watched VH1 and all seemed to enjoy the ambiance [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]. I may have dozed off for a few min. Seemed to have wasted no time and had all 1475 FU's done in perhaps 1 hr - what tremendous team work. Turns out my donor area is very good and thick (2.6 cm)

Doc came in to create recipient areas, changing instrument after every 100. He said to keep it sharp and limit scarring. 2 of the techs immediately started inserting grafts, ALL 1475 - woohoo. Dr. M came in to check on progress every few min., and create more receptor areas.

By 2:30pm (4 1/2 hrs total) I was done and eating lunch (which was awesome btw), before my limo showed to take me home. All meds provided, including a neck pillow. Post op instruction were included and verbalized. These guys are first class!!!

Took a nap when I got home, woke up in some pain as the anesthesia has been wearing off, but the meds work to keep in check.
So far, I kick myself for not having done this 2 years ago. I can see the stubble and it's going to be awesome in the next 4-6 months. No real scabbing att all so far. Also zero scarring in recipient sites (donor area still bandaged). But.... I am amazed that the recipient area looks like it is normal stubble growing out of my noggin NO slit/scar marks and very little blood crusts.

Alex,
Sounds smooth and similiar to my procedure..I am expecially happy to hear you have a wealth of donor hair. Dont be disappointed at around the 2 month mark..this may be your lowest point, often you get some shedding and are impatient to see the new hair..but in my case the shedded hair 95% came back..and I was looking noticably thicker at around weeks 12-14. Take care !!! Keep us posted. BTW..I too had very little <none?> pain with the anesthia. Guess it varies?

Alex,
I'm at 6 weeks post-surgery now. I too was amazed to see all those hairs sticking out of my head right after surgery (7/16/01). Of course, I knew full well that they would almost all fall out before regrowth starts at ~3 months, but still, it looked pretty cool. Sure enough, they grew for about 2-3 weeks, then started to shed and are ~90% gone now. Like NW says, the 2 month point is the lowest - most of the grafts have shed and regrowth is still a month out. I know this will be one of longest months I've had in my life!
Regards,
Gary

Were you guys told to wash it twice a day for the 1st week. Day two and it makes me soo sqeemish to touch. I can deal with once, but twice.... Any way this a.m. the swelling kicked in, had that manly frankenstein forhead, but it actually feels like its subsiding tonight. Using pees. I had heard that the shedding happens to most folks, it would be nice to be that 1% though... So far, it is better than I expected. I read so much before I decided to go for it, I think I was totally prepared for the worst. Of course that may still come, but so far alls well. Outside of waking up at 4am completely wide awake (not groggy or tired), it has been a cake walk. Think the hardest thing was trying to figure out what to tell people about my "vacation".

If any of you a runners, any idea when a nice short 5-6 mile run might be possible. It seems running doesn't strain your head, but don't really want to find out the hard way (I know weights are out for at least 7 days).

Hey Alex,
You should wait to run at least 10 days..theres a lot going on in your scalp right now, I too had the "all too much fun" forehead swelling..I felt I looked like a baby buffalo/Star Wars allien !!, It went away after a few days, one thing you may consider is using a simple salt water or water/Miture of some sort to mist your scalp, I have heard this helps, I did not do it and seems my scalp dried out a bit ??..check with your Dr....In 4-5 months you will retire your baseball cap collection...Good luck.

NW,
you mentioned this in another post. I received the Grafcyte shampoo, but not any kind of spray. I did find the company at procyte.com, but they don't sell online, nor did they list any "graf" products. I will keep looking...

georgetiemann.com sells a single patient kit (most other stuff in bulk) for $135. Includes dressing towlettes? spray, shampoo and conditioner.

Alex,
The post-operation scalp spray by graftcyte..is supposed to be good..it is the one thing I would have purchased immediately after surgery...but all my grafts came through <without it> and healed properly with no visable marks of any kind anyways....I just paniced a bit when they seemed to dry-out after the 1st week or so.......all ended well.

Alex,
I agree with NW, 10 days is probably a safe amount of time before running. You certainly want all the swelling to be gone and everything to be pretty much healed. My swelling only lasted about a week. On the washing question, I have not heard of anyone else recommending twice per day. I gently washed mine once per day and used saline spray (plain old contact lens stuff) to speed the healing and help with the itching.

Gary
Dang, 3 months is a long time ...