I really meant to start my blog the day before my procedure because I knew I probably would be a little out of it on the day of from the meds, but for some reason or another I never got around to it so here I am starting the day after. This was my second procedure totalling of 2535 FUT, followed by my first of 1695 FUT - both were done by Dr. Arocha in Houston. First off, I am very happy with my decision to go with him. He takes a tremendous amount of pride in his work, is very dedicated to what he does and truly cares about his patients. He told me one of the most awarding aspects about his job was seeing a complete turn around in his patient's morale and self-esteem about themselves. He said a majority of them would come in down, depressed, and often time embarrassed about themselves - and then after their procedure it was almost like they turned into a new person. They would have a huge smile on their face, were much more confident about themselves and all of this had trickled down into turning their very own lives around. Dr. Arocha told me of one patient he worked on that was in school and was struggling with his grades and making friends. This particular patient came back for a yearly check up and told Dr. Arocha that since his procedure, his whole life had turned around. He was making all A's, had made many new friends and was now enjoying who he was as a person.

Although my first surgery was rather small, the effect it had on my self-esteem was pretty profound. I definitely felt more confident about myself, and I found myself able to finally focus on other things in my life without worrying how I looked or what people thought of me. Now I should say that for about 4-5 years before my first procedure, which was last December, that I was against getting my hair restored because I thought I should learn to love myself for who I was and not let my ego rule my happiness. At first, I thought I had figured it out and got past caring about how I looked, but as time went on and I began losing more and more of my hair - keeping that view of myself became more difficult. I even shaved my head to see how I would look, to see if I could sport that look for the rest of my life and let me tell you, some people can pull that look off - I am not one of those people. Losing my hair became a constant daily battle, and I definitely noticed behavioral changes because of it. If I was having a good hair day, or I had a good hair cut - I was a joy to be around, but if I had a bad hair day - lord help me. I would sometimes not go out, or just be down and my family and friends would notice it. I finally came to the point where I decided to do something about it, and started researching. I researched, and researched, and then researched some more. I read everything I could find and to be honest, I was somewhat disappointed with what I found because there really isn't a full on cure to any type of hair loss (yet.) The only permanent type of support available was hair transplantation, and being aware that each of us only have so much donor hair to use - I really needed to find the best guy out there.

So here I am, second day of my second procedure and my head feels a little tight and sore right now, but nothing to complain about. I wasn't the least bit nervous yesterday before my surgery because I had gone through the process before and it really is not that big of a deal at all. Mary the office Manager is a wonderful person and made me feel right at home. Dr. Arocha's technicians, Criag, Maria, and Jose are very genuine people and very good at what they do. I forgot I was even at the doctor's office talking with them before the procedure. They make you feel very comfortable. I am very excited and will be posting pics soon. I have a little bit of swelling right now, but I have been sleeping with my head elevated to prevent major swelling. Can't have my head turning into a melon now can we?