Sunnycoastman

Hi WB, I think everyone worries about the donor scar stretching...:-) I had a big donor for 4,167 grafts. My hair is thin too so not a great yield expected from my hair but the doc did good getting that much. Almost an inch deep and my laxity was Ok si I guess theres a bit of tension on the wound which goes from the front of one ear right round to the fron of the other....a little bit more and i would have had a halo...lol. anyway I posted 2 more pics tonite. Its exactly 2 weeks since op. One pic is of the scar, one is of the front. All crusting has gone from the front. The crown is being a bit more stubborn. I gently sweep my hand over it each day and crusting is slowly coming off. So thats it for now...cheers Sunny

Hi WB. Sounds like FUT with DR Path then. A fine line is not guaranteed for anyone at the end of the day is it but he is an excellent doc with many many years of experience doing this. There IS something YOU can do to help make sure you do end up with a fine line. If Dr Path tells you to do scalp exercises, make sure you do them religiously...every day, twice a day if you can. It took me 6 weeks before i really noticed a difference in laxity. And its hard work too. I think that the amount of scar stretching is directly related to the amount of tension on the cut line while it is healing over the first 4 or 5 months. The less continuous tension on the scar line the less chance of stretching. That seems to make sense to me. So how do you reduce the tension?...by having a lax scalp to start with. some have it naturally some dont. So do your exercises starting 3 months before the op. I like the idea of dissolvable sutures that help take up the tension for at least a month or 5 weeks. I think it has to help prevent the line from stretching open during that first 4 - 6 weeks after the op. Anyway good luck WB. Dr path has a resume chock full of happy customers, youre in good hands. cheers

Hi. I would like to buy some dermmatch.I live in australia. I hardly ever use ebay and Im not setup for paypal anyway so its a hassle to do it that way. I just want to phone someone or email someone and buy with my credit card. Sounds so easy one would think. But it seems ebay has taken over the world!! Is there ANYWHERE in australia I can do this...someone please say yes!..:-) cheers

Itll be available from chemistaustralia the online chemist from april 2010. You could use the liquid until then. probably cost a fortune over here. maybe ebay is the way to go provided theres no restrictions on shipping it. I know in the states they wont fly it to you, its overland only. Its $49 for 4x 63ml bottles in the USA. It seems most of the stuff people talk about on this website is hard to find in Oz. i was looking for the loreal mens volumising shampoo but cant find it here. And where do i get some dermatch...very frustrating.

Hi, Im in day 13 after the HT. My scarline is still a bit tender although in the last 2 days it has felt better. sometimes its tender more so than at other times. Sometimes there are especially tender spots, but this seems to change each day. Ive taken to washing it with the antiseptic shampoo the doc gave me to help stave off possible infection. The way I sleep seems to make a difference too, ie if i sleep on my back it seems to be more tender the next day. Theres also some bumps along the line. Is this all normal??? How long before the tenderness dissappears and the scarline feels normal?? I guess healing depends on your age and state of health. Older people generally heal slower I think. Also stretching. Seems to me, and Im just trying to think logically, the most critical factor in whether you get streching is how much tension it is under from when it was closed up. This would be directly related to the number of grafts ie depth of cut, and laxity to begin with which means scalp exercises are super important especially the more grafts you want. I also wonder whether dissolvable sutures which dissolve over 5 weeks or so are better for taking up the tension in the scarline for longer allowing more healing to occur before the skin takes up all the tension. Someone on this site said they thought some people get stretching no matter what they do. I know heavy lifting after an HT can stress the scarline but that would only occur over a short length of time during a workout. Im thinking that the tension on the scar in relation to laxity is the biggest cause of stretching after the HT. cheers Sunny

Hi Yomo. I dont think God cares if you take propecia or if you have a HT either. He cares about how you are communicating with him, your relationship with him. Its a conscience thing. Like Paul said, some are vegetarian and some eat meat, each according to his conscience...thats it. If youre a christian under grace you are free to do as you please provided its not against the law of the country, is not illegal, does not harm your body and does not destroy the faith of another believer. You cant do anything to earn gods favor. Be free of rules that you think will earn you points. Hey maybe propecia has slowed down your hairloss. you wont know til you stop for a while. If you keep taking it fine...if you have a HT...fine...God just wants you to have a clear conscience and for him to be the biggest part of everything you do. Then he gets all the thanks for it, not you being proud. And if it dosnt turn out, well thank him for what you have learnt out of it.. Bless whatever you do mate...cheers sunny

Hi WB, its a tough decision. I have a few questions for you. If you choose FUE, who would do it. You need to find a very good doctor. Does Dr Humayan do FUE, I dont know. I think hes in Pakistan and his prices are low compared to other docs and lots of members on this site recommend him. Otherwise you may have to travel further and pay 2 or 3 times more for FUE than with Dr Path with FUT. So first question: can you afford the travel costs and the extra FUE cost. Next question. Looking at your genealogy how much hairloss do you expect in the future. If its alot then maybe FUT is better now and plan for future FUT treatments. If you dont think your hairloss will be much in future then FUE may be better for you now. Next question. Do you want to be able to shave right down or not. If so FUE is better from a good doc, if not FUT will be cheaper and youll get a better yield for your $. You know you can always get FUT then in future get FUE into your scar and Ok you cant shave right down without it being noticed I think but you can get close maybe. Good luck. Im just a newbie to this site really, I hope a few more can chip in and help with your decision....cheers mate sunny

we are who we are arnt we...physiologically, chemically, psychologically...so some of us dont respond to propecia or other drugs and some do...thats not God, its just our physiology and chemistry. If Yomo responded to drugs its not wrong to thank God for that..christians thank god for all things. the good they want and what they think is the not so good they dont want....sometimes the not so good can be a blessing...like maybe an HT??? So he dosnt have a good response to drugs..he can still thank god for all he does have ...How thankful would you be you be able to just accept your hairloss and be happy with your life and yourself and losing your hair..how many here wish they could feel that way. Its hard for alot of us on this site to imagine being free of that burden. Of course I think Yomo would prefer his hair back right now, but perhaps its not right for him as he says...anyway who wouldnt want to be free of that burden and not have to care about your hair...If Yomo feels like that...good on him....cheers Sunny

I had my Ht on wed 25 Nov. 4167 FUT grafts, approx. My last workout was Mon 23 Nov. I went back to the gym wed 2 Dec, the 7 th day after the HT. Doctors instructions allowed mild exercise. I and started on the treadmill walking uphill. Then did a weight circuit with weights 50% of what i normally use. Also no barbell bench presses, chins, squats , deadlifts trap work or situps. I did seated machine bench press and lat pulldowns tho. After about 20 minutes I did 15 minutes on the stationary bike. Ive worked out each day since then and now on 7 dec I upped my weights to 60%. No adverse effects so far except one day I thought Id try situps. I felt it. Dont do them too soon. theres too much cranial pressure at the bottom of the movement. Instead i do a cable crunch using the tricep ropes on the cable machine for abs. no problems. I feel good getting back to the exercise. I had 9 days off total. I think exercise helps with recovery, is energising and is a good stress reliever. Just have to take it slowly thats all. I hope to be up to 80% of my normal weights in the next 2 weeks. some tips. dont hold your breath on any movement. you have to keep breathing throughout the movemsnt so cranial pressure dosnt build up. Be careful of any overhead lifting cz it involves the traps which can apply pressure to the base of the neck and also head. Ive been doing light machine shoulder presses but slowly and carefully. make sure your workout hat is clean every workout to avoid the possibility of infection. Ive worn a hat every workout and no-one has said anything so far. shampoo after every workout. cheers Sunny

I was a born again christian for nearly 20 years. im not now. I still believe in "God" but not the same way as I used to. Yomo, youve made up your mind and its great if you now have some peace about your hair. I wonder what God thinks of HTs, lipo, facelifts, boob jobs etc...I know he looks at the heart but I think it boils down to conscience. if it offends your conscience its wrong. If not fine go ahead as long as its not immoral or illegal or hurts someone else. So if its ok for christian women to wear makeup, how about a lttle botox, to smooth out some lines...Is that ok...well how about a small facelift cz botox can get expensive, when they look in the mirror....how a bout a HT for a christian women whos losing hair...how about an Ht for me or you...is that Ok in Gods eyes....God understands our humanity I think, our weaknesses. he gave us the knowledge to advance medicine...every good thing is from him...isnt that true. Its not lack of faith to have a heart transplant or blood transfusion to save a life if God gave us the ability to do it in the first place...I think cosmetic surgery is vanity...but there are no perfect christians, we/you are at different stages in our walk...as for me, im "lost" I think right now....whatever that means... ok Yomo best wishes to you. Would be sad to see you go from this site... Sunny

Hi WB. you need to start a new thread about should you you get FUT or FUE . Post a pic of your hair. Its not enought to ask, we need pics. Give details of your situation ie age, how many grafts youve been told you need, donor quality, speed of hairloss etc, as much info as possible as well as your hereditary background...father and grandfather balding, if you know, and hopefully youll get some advice from some of the experts here...good luck mate... sunny

Hi WB, I wont be resuming my normal workouts in 10 days from my surgery. I'll keep my light circuit(50% of normal weights) and aerobics going for as long as I feel I need to and just see how the scar feels then gradually increase it. My scar is still a little tender and hurts a little sometimes so I wont be pushing the weights too hard. I dont think Dr Path had thrashing yourself in the gym after 10 days in mind when he said resume normal.:-). As to the FUT FUE thing. You could probably do FUE with only 2000 grafts.I couldnt. FUT has better succes, well at least more consistent success in terms of graft survival and you will probably pay double the cost for it and you need to find a really good doc to do it. Maybe in the USA/Canada. If money is no object then sure its worth considering. Will you need more HTs in the future. How fast are you losing hair. Are you on Fin. How good is your donor area. You may end up having to do FUT at some point anyway? But yes the opinion of some of the experts on this forum is what is needed right now.

Hi DB, you know what is so good about this site... its that you have a choice of great Docs that give consistently good results...and you would never find them if you didnt stumble on or be told about or know about this site. I stumbled on it and thank God i did. Thanks guys..thats to all of you who spend valuable time inputing and advising and posting results for ignorant people like me. i mean I had no idea...A HT sounded so simple and a quick fix...until I read what you guys/gals..mostly guys..lol... had to say.:-) I think the numbness/tightness is normal. Im 8 days after my HT and my head feels tight, and will be for a while I think. or is that numb I dont know. I think its a combination. Anyway DB, sounds like you had a great doc...what more can you do but pick a great doc...:-) sunny

heres a pic of my crown I took the day after surgery. you can see the huge area that had to be covered. And the front needed doing too both sides of a tuft that has remained reasonably stable for many years. I know my hair will always be thin and see through,Im very realistic about it. but Ill keep it a good length and use a volumiser or something Ill be content just having SOME coverage.Im on proscar too so hoping I can hold what i have. cheers

Gidday WB,hairloss is the male curse isnt it. I bet if women had our problem the doctors wouldnt be able to keep up with the demand...lol. yes my light exercise is ok but nothing fast and jerky. I will go to the gym every day for next 5 days and work out lightly but enough to get a sweat up.My instructions say "absolute minimal for first 7 days involving fast body movement,thereafter mild exercise and after 10 days resume to normal activities" yes my scar is clean. i think its a good job done. no they didnt shave me anywhere else. I have a tuft in the front I wanted densified and they would have shaved that if they did it but I didnt have enough grafts and I was worried about shock loss anyway. heres a pic of the front to illustrate. They have to shave the donor area so the doc can see to cut around the existing hairs and not slice through them. They advise that you grow your hair so that the hair above is long enough to cover the scar and the shaved bit. I did that and you cant really see the scar or the shaved bit.cheers

Hi WB, youre lucky your crown is intact.you'll have no worries with concealing the Ht but the little crusts will take about 10 days to fall off I think. I have a large bald crown and a tuft of thinning hair in the front. Plus my hair is very fine and thin in my donor area too...iust the worst genes possible man...I would love to have stayed longer in thailand and had my stitches out over there but I didnt have enough annual leave so I could only go for a week at the max. Today is exactly 1 week since my procedure. I had my retention stitches out today. 17 of them. Not a problem. One bled a lttle. The nurse had never done HT stitches before. I also went to the gym today, did some treadmill work, stationary bike and twice through a weight circuit using light weights and about 20 reps. Felt good. I worried about my grafts tho. Im a bit paranoid about them I reckon...hullo out there, anyone know that feeling....lol. so all good so far. Ill try and post a pic of my scar on surgery day. the retention stiches are blue and work to reduce the tension on the dissolvable stitches which will dissappear in 4 to 6 weeks.

Thanks champ. i found an easier and cheaper way. My gf in america is meeting me in nz at xmas. i asked her to bring me 4 bottles of minox foam. 4 for $60 in the USA...we just get ripped off here in oz. But i will keep an eye on ebay..thanks sunny

Hi eastern, I had my HT with Dr path in thailand a week ago tomorrow. Im very happy with what he did. It cost me all up AU$13000 incl. airfare, hotel and food. Same Ht in oz, at least double that for the Ht alone. I really liked bangkok and love the food...so cheap too.wish i couldve stayed another week.I felt a bit depressed when i got back because it was an exciting 5 days over there and then blah...back to the same old... Dr path is an excellent surgeon and has a very important attribute...many years of experience producing consistently good results...that was important to me...I didnt want any doubts about the surgeon. I hope this is my first and last HT. Im 55 so it probably will be. Ill try and control further hairloss with proscar amd minox...cheers sunny

Hey WB, I recommend the senna place hotel. I tried to get in there but it was booked out so that tells you its good value. if you stay 3 days you can get free pickup from the airport..thats worth AU$15 and late checkout...5pm. And its not far from the clinic. maybe 10 or 15 min walk Im guessing and the skytrain station is close too. check it out http://www.senaplace.com/home.htm . I wore a baseball cap with the black headband. It looks like a sweatband. I was out and about all the time every day and no-one looked at me funny. theres all sorts of dress in bangkok no-one cares. I talked to an english girl on the skytrain one day and she wasnt looking at me strangely...it looks like a sweatband. But if youre worried do this...tie a bandanna on over the head and headband then put your baseball cap on. I saw a random guy in Siam mall who did that...it actually looked pretty cool...kind of a bit hippy like, and I wished i had bought a bandanna, but are they easy to put on...Im lazy...lol. yes I got some swelling and my scalp felt tight for 5 days. i had about 1500 in my frontal area and 2600 on my crown and yes I noticed the swelling when I got home 3 days after the transplant but next day i slept for about 12 hours I was so tired and it was gone. no-one at work has noticed any difference...except the hat of course but i told them Id had surgery on my head and the doc said wear a hat. today one of the receptionists at work said "why are you wearing a hat inside"...I said "its international hat week"...lol, and she believed me....lol. Ok at the airport. That concerned me too. firstly carefully take off the band in the rest room before you go through. put the hat back on. make sure you have no metal on you when you go through or youll get stopped with no hat on. If your belt has metal take it off. If you have a laptop or portable dvd take it out of the bag and place it in the tray. you dont want to be stopped with your hat off going through the security check. But you have to take your hat off...cant avoid it, but do this. have another hat with you. put that in the tray with some other stuff and send it through the xray machine. wait til its gone in and then a few seconds more. then quickly take off your hat put in another tray and walk through the checkpoint and immediately pick up the other hat you sent through first and put it on. It will be over with in 2 seconds. Dont look at anyone...a few steps put the other hat on and its done. that avoids standing there thinking everyones looking at you while waiting for your one hat to come thru like I did...:-) . tomorrow stiches out. i have to tell the nurse i had a HT. Why am I so embarrassed about this....I dont know. probably cz she'll think Im vain...Im not good looking anyway so its not like it'll make me a studmuffin...lol....maybe the feeling that I have to have cosmetic surgery to make me feel better about myself...what does that say about me....is that it....I dont know, I cant pin it down why Im almost ashamed of having done this..Im 55 for gods sake, why am I so worried....funny isnt it. young guys think that when they get older it wont matter if theyre bald but you know I dont think thats the case...you resign yourself to more easily thats all but dont like it. lol, enough of my philosophising about it....Im glad i did it and look forward to seeing my hair grow instead of go....:-) cheers sunny

Hi beachgoer, yes keep at the scalp exercises. It took me 6 weeks of doing it before i noticed it really loosening up. wish Id started earlier.i only did two months and then I had a break for a week in that. I think 3 months is needed, you can do the exercises less to start with then more often as you get closer. I only did it at night cz Im lazy...lol. But Im strong, I worked out every day at the gym but my arms got tired real quick like you say. heres what I found to make it easier. do it lying down on the couch watching tv, so your shoulders are supported on the pillow. clasp your fingers together over the top to get more leverage. do mostly from the base of your scalp upward. I also did from the top downward and upward inbetween hoping it would help.i tried everything...lol. I found that by placing a rough facecloth on the back part of my head it got more grip on my scalp and my hands and I could apply more pressure. hold the pressure for 5 to 8 seconds then release. move around then repeat. I found it really hard work...my arms got tired very quickly...but just rest a bit then do it again and so on. doing it lying down helped me alot. The hard part is around the very back so you have to work on that area. I always clasped my fingers to apply the most pressure. good luck mate. Im very happy with my procedure so far and with Dr Path and his team. I think the result will be good. cheers.... Sunny

Hi beachgoer, yes the staff are proficient but quite humble and at ease as well. Dr path is the main man there, he is just good at his job and everyone there knows it i felt. before you go there write down the list of questions you want answered, and take a pen and write down the answers too at the time. have all the questions ready. dont try and remember like I did cz youll forget things like i did. depending on the number of grafts scalp laxity is important. i worked hard for 2 months with scalp exercises and Dr path got almost an inch deep, but i needed alot of grafts so Im glad i did. keep an eye on the exchange rate. you can transfer money to his account when its good and save heaps if you time it right. I transferred 9000 oz dollars to their account when the official rate was 31 baht to the $ and still got 30.4 baht per $ their end. the bank takes their cut of course. The day of the procedure is by far the easiest part of the whole exercise..The stress is before and after....i banged my head on the car door 3 days after the op and was worried, feeling for blood, lost grafts...lol. Im so careful now...first day back at work today. hat on, my scalp is still tight, bit of a headache but no pain meds needed. workmates fishing for info...Im hanging out for the xmas break..2 1/2 weeks holiday in NZ. cheers beachgoer

today was my first day back at work after my HT 5 days ago. My head is a purple red colour and its really really obvious. I work in a team of 10 in an open plan office.No one wears a hat there. Its an engineering department. I walked in and said to the boss Hi Al, I have to wear this hat because last week i had some surgery done on my head and it dosnt look very nice so the doc told me to wear a hat(Baseball cap) for a few weeks. I said it loud enough so most of the others heard. i explained the same to a couple of others as well who came in later. One tried to pump me for more info but I said it was a personal thing that i needed to have done and Im ok, nothing life threatening. that was it. theyll be used to me wearing the hat soon. Ill wear it for as long as i need to. cheers

Hi Wb, there is no pain during the whole procedure. The most painful part for me was the finger prick to take my blood test. If you begin to feel anything just tell them. about 3/4 of the way through my procedure i began to feel a little pain as they cut the grafts and they gave me another shot straight away. The shots dont hurt a bit. the ones in my eyebrow stung a bit but all over in a second. Please dont worry about feeling pain during the op. No I havent tried toppik but Ill look into it. You should try propecia. I started on it 3 months ago. I started with 0.5mg per day for a month to see what effect it had. I dont like taking drugs but I dont want to lose more hair either especially after spending so much money on my HT. Now Im take proscar(cheaper) 1mg per day and no side effects that I can determine so far. Im also going to start on minox in a few days time. good luck mate. Dr Path is good. He really knows his stuff.

To the aussies out there, where do you buy your minox. do you use an online chemist. Im after minox foam because it sounds like its so much easier and less time consuming to use. anyone tell me where to buy at the best price....cheers

Hi, here is my HT experience this past week. Its a long winded account but I wanted to make it a bit like a story. Im 55 and probably NW 5-6 with all my crown gone and a tuft of hair in my frontal area. Ive been saving hard for 5 months for this procedure so heres hoping??¦??¦:-) Monday morning 23rd Nov. packed and ready. Off to the bank to squeeze the last money out of my bank account...AU$3000. Last week I telegraphed $10,000 to Dr Paths account to avoid carrying a lot of cash. Im now officially broke...:-(. One hours drive to Brisbane airport and pretty soon Im off on Thai airways flight 474. Free booze...:-).....but of course with the Ht so close I declined...no I didn't??¦lol. food was very tasty, a few beers, a wine or two...watch a movie...life is good...:-)a nice german girl next to me gave me some tips about Bangkok too. 9 hours later I arrived in thailandat 8.30pm and I followed the german girl thru to customs and out to the taxis. I had booked a room at karmanee hotel, 30 min from the airport. All good. $55 for the room. Tuesday 24th. Breakfast was included in the room cost. Fantastic spread so I was into the thai food right away....rice and all sorts of spicy stuff....hog heaven for me. 2 huge platefuls later and I loosened my belt and was ready for the pancakes and syrup then 2 cups of coffee. I was happy as a sand boy...then a 5 min walk to an internet place to msg my girlfriend. I decided to walk to Dr Paths clinic for my consultation. I had chosen one of the hotels close by so a 15 minute walk and I was there, after asking directions at a few places. The thais mostly have very limited english ....i am now an expert at charades...and using words of 1 and 2 syllables...:-) Dr Paths clinic was floor 32 of the Siam commercial bank so in the lift I go..but hang on, the numbers say it only goes up to 23...so I wander round on floor 23 like a lost 3 year old til someone sees my confusion and points me round the corner to another lift that goes up to floor 42....tricky...but 10am and Im there and greeted by a friendly pretty thai girl and after a coffee, filling out a form and a few minutes wait I go in for my consult with Dr Oravan. She was good, explained everything, mapped out the hairline, bloodpressure taken etc. she spoke really good English and answered all my questions. Everyone there is friendly and I felt relaxed and in good hands. I decided to change hotels to one closer to the clinic. 5 min walk and $29 a night and next to the skytrain station. It was a good move and I ate at the restaurant there every day??¦delicious food and cheap!!. I went to the clinic every day I was there so being close was a good move and I just walked down, too easy. And the train station was just around the corner from the hotel ??¦that was good too. So for the rest of the day I went xmas shopping at Siam malls...15 minutes on the skytrain??¦too easy, then back at 9pm for dinner. Green curry with prawns and rice, Chinese tea and orange juice....delicious...and only AU$4. Then a shower and wash my hair twice with antiseptic shampoo the clinic gave me then watch tv for a while. Wed 25th The big day. I slept ok. Woke at 4am which is 7am in oz and tossed around a bit til 6. Then a shower and wash my hair twice again with the shampoo. Breakfast was eggs on toast and orange juice $3. No coffee or tea. 8.30am I arrive at the clinic,fill out a form to say I have received all the information about the procedure and then I change my shirt for a robe and meet with Dr Path. BP taken and Dr Path draws the hairline etc, using the laser instrument. Im happy with it. Dr path talked about the style of my hair and the angle of the new hairs and the transition of the angle from back to front over my crown and blending with existing hair angles. His English is excellent and he knows his stuff. Then the finger prick for the blood test...ouch.....hurt more than any of the shots I had later...lol. Then 20mg valium, an antibiotic pill, and into the surgery. I have my ipod but didn't use it much..plugs kept falling out. Hardly felt any of the injections except the ones on my eyebrows( to deaden the nerves to my scalp) stung a bit. It was pretty much a painless experience tho. Most relaxing day ive had in a long while....lol. The valium did its job well. I just chilled out and listened to the female techs chat away as they put the grafts in. very pleasant. There was another Dr there too watching the procedure and Dr path was in and out giving instructions. I Know he did all of the original cutting and sutures but I think he left the graft insertions to the other doctor and techs under his supervision. every hour or so one of the girls would massage my legs??¦nice touch..... I only got up twice, once for a toilet break and the other for a cup of hot chocolate. They got around 3700 grafts.But Dr path wanted more for better coverage so he recut along the same line and extracted another 450 or so grafts and sutured up again. Total grafts 4,167. I was happy with that. My hair is very fine and thin too so I wasnt the best raw material to start with. Dr Path is very particular and I could tell he cares alot about doing the absolute best job with what he has to work with . He is decisive and very proficient and professional and hes easy to relate to. His team is awesome. 10 hours from the first injection to the last graft. 7.20pm and we're done. 7.45pm and im walking back to my hotel with my head bandaged up, pressure band on and hat covering it all. I have pain meds (tylenol/codeine)and antibiotics and a list of instructions. I wander round looking for a nice restaurant to eat at but end up at the hotel restaurant at 9pm for a delicious red curry....I just love thai food. Im really going to miss it. Then tv for a bit and sleep. Thursday 26th. Up at 7 and shower. Eggs for brekky and coffee today and off to the clinic to have my hair shampooed. 9am im there. One of the girls shampoos my hair explaining how I am to do it. Dr path checks my head and is happy with what he sees. Pressure band goes on , hat on and off I go. Off to the bank to pay the balance of money owing (about $1400) and get some shopping money. An hour later after trying to get the bank staff to understand me...I was laughing in the end it had become so difficult to get the transaction done cz I wanted some money in Dr paths account and extra spending money too and they didn't get it. Whew!!! hard work....So now its lunchtime and off to the hotel for an awesome prawn and bacon salad for $4 and then off to MBK mall for more shopping for my family for xmas. 15 minutes and Im there. Dummy me, I should have been relaxing in my hotel room in recovery mode but I had to get the shopping done so 7 hours later after walking for hours in the huge malls im back to the hotel for a huge red curry and a beer...maybe the beer was a no no but anyway $5 all up. Friday 27th. Back to the clinic for another shampoo and final instructions??¦and goodbyes. Bought 2 packs of 5mg proscar at the clinic..$73 each...($94 each pack back in oz). Lunch at the hotel then back to MBK mall for final shopping for presents. Huge mall, 5 floors of everything you can imagine. I walked every floor twice I think hunting for deals. Back at hotel at 9pm for final dinner and taxi to the airport. Im sad to be leaving. Wish I could stay another week and look around more. But work on Monday..:-( big accident on the way to airport and we 're at walking pace for 45 minutes....Im worried Ill miss the plane but we make it in time. Flight back was good. I had 3 seats to myself so could lie down. I was still taking pain meds regularly...donor area hurts more when lying down. 8 ?? hours flying and I arrive back at Brisbane at midday. Customs haul me off to a special stall like on border patrol and ask me all these questions and say they think I have something illegal in my bag. No tv cameras around so I wont be a border patrol star today....lol. They go thru my bags and find the chanel handbag I bought for my daughter. It has chains and a circular metal clasp which looked like handcuffs to them on the xray..lol...so funny. She asks about the proscar...a prescription drug. I tell her I had a medical procedure in Thailand and the proscar is for prostate....she wishes me a speedy recovery..probably thought I had cancer or something..lol. Then an hours drive from Brisbane and im home.Stop at Mcdonalds for a burger. $7.20...what a rip off. In thailand hats like a huge curry and rice meal, large bottle of heineken, chinese tea and a coffee....wonder if they want any engineers over there...lol. Anyway what a week. Today I slept in til 11am, Ive never done that. I was pretty drained I think...my head feels tight still, probably from swelling, pain from the donor is area is very minor...work tomorrow...groan...and explanations for the hat. Ill tell them I had surgery on my head, nothing life threatening, and it looks a bit ugly so doc told me to wear a hat for a few weeks. That's it. Im very happy that I went to Dr Path. He knows what hes doing and has a great team who really look after you well. I can highly recommend him. The airfare cost me $1025. I spent $150 on the hotel. $100 total on all my meals, about $10 on the skytrain, and $20 on taxis and got xmas presents at super cheap prices. I paid around $2.80 per graft, AU $11700 for 4167 grafts. Thailand is a great place to visit too, lots to see and do, cheap shopping and fantastic food at ridiculously cheap prices. Cheers??¦ Sunnycoastman Ps. When I get photos from the clinic Ill post them and my progress over time.