So, I've been looking forward to the day coming for a while. Though I'm doing the surgery because it was my own idea and its what I want, when I'm at places like a wedding and hear comments from buddies saying, "dude your gonna be a domer in another year or 2!" It certainly makes me glad that I'm getting this done now.

My morning of surgery started with a 5:30 AM run since I won't be able to workout hard for about another week-10 days. I reported at 7:45 and they took me back to change into a different shirt and asked what I wanted for lunch. Then Dr. Haber came in and we took some pre-op pics. He's a genuinly nice guy that is incredibly knowledgeable which puts me at ease. I have complete confidence in him and that He is likely one of the most advanced hair transplant surgeons out there and has one of the best teams with you will find (hence one of several reasons why I chose to do my HT with him and his team). With al that said I really wasn't worried aboout a thing.

Once taken into the surgery room they drew on the hair line and Dr. Haber had a colleague give another oppinion to help make sure it was symmetrical and ideal. I thought he drew a hairline that would be a mature and masculine hair line and would look great as I age. Then I was laid face down as they massaged my back and use of other vibrating devices on my scalp to help block the pain (see "gait control theory of pain" which I remembered from grad school) as they applied multiple injections into the area that would be the donor strip. They took some measurements to used some of the pre-op pics then to help estimate how large of a strip they should take from the donor site to get the goal of 2500 grafts. Then Dr. Haber made the incision and worked to take out the donor strip. He then used a tool to spread the strip was taken. He told me he was just using a "spreader" so I had to ask to see if he was using the "Haber spreader" which he invented. It was, but I really like that He's a humble guy and just called it a spreader until I asked.

Then I sat up and once the scalp was anesthetied Dr. Haber started to make the incisions that will be used for the hair grafts. It kind of made a small-odd sound that I could hear slightly as I was doing it but along with when they took the donor site, everything was pain free. It sounded kind of like when you push a pencil through a cardboard box. I asked to see one of the tools he was using to make the incisions and it was incredibly tiny. Once done with all of that he applied a blue dye which allows his co-workers to see the area of the incisions better.

It was then time to place all the grafts which took quite some time. I never expected it to take until 6 at night, but I guess when you have to place several thousands of grafts 1 at a time its gonna take awhile. I was impressed that they had 6 people dissecting the donor strip. When I would get a short break I would watch as they worked dillegently, changed the knives on their scapels frequently, and worked all day long. Everyone once ahile they would let me get up for the bathroom or just to move around a bit. Besides that and lunch (from Boston market which ws awesome) they worked pretty much stright til 6.

To pass the time I listened to music, watched a movie (they have their own collection but I chose to bring in Tallade Nights with WIll Farrell, on of my favs), and had small talk with the staff. The staff was really cool to talk to as well as Dr. Haber. He would check in frequently as the grafts were being placed and is really a caring sugeon. At the end of the day I felt good, they took a few more pics, went over the post op instructions and gave me a bag with a protective pillow case, some gauze, saline spray, and some antibiotic ointment to apply to the donor site. I was fortunate that my donor strip was thicker with grafts than expected and I ended with 2703 grafts with 5287 hairs placed. Pretty cool. Him and his team were awsome and it ws time to get hom to celebrate a good day. I drove home and did take a percocet upon arriving home though I likely could have gone without it as it wasn't that painful. Then, between occasionlly spraying the grafts with the saline, I celebrated the day with a steak and some sauteed bell peppers (foods good for wound healing), and a movie.