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EmuSteve

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Everything posted by EmuSteve

  1. Ha ha. Changed the thread title I see. =) I love you Bill, you know that. You also know what a big fan of censorship I am. =) While I certainly don't want to get into the hot and heavy debate thats been raging here, I'd like to politely and respectfully decline the offer. Thanks anyway. I do, however, wish the best to you and Pat! Take care.
  2. Pfft. Janna is way outta my league brother. =) Thanks for the encouragement though. Take care. =)
  3. lol. No, I returned the blanket to Janna the next day, although it was incredibly kind of her to lend it to a Florida boy who wasn't very familiar with that thing called "snow". "What? Ice falls from the sky here? Seriously? How do you guys wear flip flops then?!" lol
  4. Hi all. Haven't been on in a while, but just wanted to stop in and say hi to everyone! =) I got to have lunch with the lovely and talented Janna not too long ago, and meet up with Dr. Shapiro as well as they were both visiting Orlando last weekend (my neck of the woods!). My growth is coming along nicely... I'm excited! They took some pictures, but I have refrained from posting them on this forum because... well... I'm just not sure I want to after all the drama I've been reading. *shrugs*. Not a bash on anyone, just a personal choice. =) Anyway, since a lot of my old friends that gave me great advice and encouragement have been banned, I'll just take this opportunity to say hello to everyone thats still here, and thank you all again for the encouragement during before and during the process. Thanks to Jason, Bill, Janna (always my favorite!), NGTGB (if you ever read this buddy, thank you), NervousNelly (same), and many others. I appreciate you all. =) Yesterday I used a little dermmatch/toppik in my hair and was out the door in 15 minutes... whereas before it took hours and I was insecure the whole day! Woo hoo! See you all around. =)
  5. Hi all. Haven't been on in a while, but just wanted to stop in and say hi to everyone! =) I got to have lunch with the lovely and talented Janna not too long ago, and meet up with Dr. Shapiro as well as they were both visiting Orlando last weekend (my neck of the woods!). My growth is coming along nicely... I'm excited! They took some pictures, but I have refrained from posting them on this forum because... well... I'm just not sure I want to after all the drama I've been reading. *shrugs*. Not a bash on anyone, just a personal choice. =) Anyway, since a lot of my old friends that gave me great advice and encouragement have been banned, I'll just take this opportunity to say hello to everyone thats still here, and thank you all again for the encouragement during before and during the process. Thanks to Jason, Bill, Janna (always my favorite!), NGTGB (if you ever read this buddy, thank you), NervousNelly (same), and many others. I appreciate you all. =) Yesterday I used a little dermmatch/toppik in my hair and was out the door in 15 minutes... whereas before it took hours and I was insecure the whole day! Woo hoo! See you all around. =)
  6. Um... Brian, your posts are the kind that scared the crap out of me before I got my surgery. If I may, just on this point... SMG quoted me a price months before my surgery. They did not stick to this price on the day of my HT. In fact, after the surgery, they noticed that my financing papers were for $1000 less than the quoted price (oversight on my part). It would have been very simple to correct as I had been approved for much more than that... in fact, I could have even paid the difference out of pocket, no big deal. But rather than fix they error, they simply changed the price for me. Holy cow. They charged me $1000 less than they quoted AFTER the surgery was done. I am not making this up. I like to point out the truth where I see it, good and bad. You can bet that if I had a bad experience, I'd post about it, and if my results don't turn out as promised, I'll put the truth on here for others. But so far, SMG has not only met, but exceeded almost every expectation I've had. So listen carefully. Hair loss has robbed me of my youth in many ways, and my surgeon has been a great asset in helping me with something that, once all is said and done, I hope will make me feel really great about MYSELF. It hasn't been easy, but slinging mud around the forums doesn't make it any easier for guys like me or any of the other people who browse this forum because they are hoping, desperately, for something that can help them beat the biggest insecurity in their life. Chill out with that stuff man.
  7. Forgive my being crass, but I think I heard someone say that this guy is more widely known as Dr. Sh*tpiro. Dr. Ron Shapiro is a stand-up guy. This guy has never had a good thing said about him that I've read. Night and day. Also, a good rule of thumb... be careful getting work done by someone with an afro. Just my 2 cents.
  8. MM said he had a disappointing experience, but I know he was talking to Dr. Rose about it when he told me. Not sure what came of it.
  9. Hey man. Glad to hear you had a great experience. I had my procedure with SMG on Nov 30th... looks like I am to you as Arrie is to me. lol =) Hope you are feeling better. Remember that the best part of pain management is prevention, and that ice is your best friend. Lots and lots of ice. Let me or Arrie know if you have any questions, as we are only a few months ahead of you. =)
  10. Ha ha. You research for years, and you laugh at all the guys you see on the boards who sound like they are freaking out about stuff when its way too soon to tell if they should be freaking out or not. And then 1 1/2 months in, you look back at your posts and realize you sound like that guy. =) I feel kindof silly. =) I am still a little worried because the sides don't look even, and the staple marks look farther apart... however, like I said earlier, SMG is taking great care of me. In fact, Dr. Shapiro emailed me himself. He said the redness could be the result of a low-grade infection and not to worry. He also said that the sides can look different due to local physiology. I trust him, and regardless it looks like the best thing to do is just wait and see. =) Arrie, thanks for your post bro. You are kindof trailblazing for me as you are 3 months ahead of me from the same doc. I hope your results are amazing, and I'm confident they will be. And thanks for the calming words. =)
  11. Hey Bill. Thanks for the advice. =) As you know, the donor scar was my biggest concern before making the decision to go forward. After surgery, I took every precaution I could think of. For guys like you and I who practically live at the gym, its been really tough not to go hit the weights, but I haven't been in 2 months (since 2 weeks before surgery). I've also been trying to sleep on my back when I normally sleep on my side, and I even bought special mirrors for my car so I could see my blind spot without having to turn my head around while driving. Just to be safe, I even gave up paintball for a while (ouch!). lol I say all this just to illustrate that I have and will continue to play it as safe as possible when it comes to my donor area. Matt Zupan was actually teasing me a little when he was taking the pictures right after I got my staples out, because I didn't want to bend my head forward so he could get a shot of the top. =) One thing I will agree with you on is that SMG is taking very good care of me. I sent an email to Janna about my concerns and got a reply within an hour, assuring me that even in the worst case scenario, they could preform a scar excision. I asked if they would charge me for that, and her answer was "Of course not. We will do whatever it takes to make sure you are happy with your procedure." For anyone who doesn't know about Janna or SMG, this level of care is pretty normal, but I thought I'd mention it anyway. =) Hope I don't have to take her up on it though. =/
  12. Thanks for the encouragement. Janna just sent me an email promising just that (as I knew she would), so even if there is an issue, I'm sure they will be amazing (as always) in taking care of it. One of the reasons I chose them. =) I guess I just don't want there to be an issue, and its hard not to worry when the left side and the right side look totally different. Ill try to upload some new pics to illustrate what I'm talking about for you guys.
  13. With respect to all, I don't think thats the case, for a few reasons. =( 1.) The tiny red marks where the staples went in are farther apart then when I started, and farther apart than on the left side of my head. 2.) The left side of my head has a red line about 2 mm wide.
  14. Hey all. I posted a 1.5 update to my progress. The hair shed (like expected). It looks like I am right on schedule as far as growth. To illustrate and to help some of the newbies, I posted a personal chart Ive been keeping tracking my growth progress and where I'm at on the timeline at this point. The main thing I am worried about is my donor area... maybe I am worrying unnecessarily, but it appears that the donor area on my left side is about 2 mm wide, but on my right side in the parietal area, its about 5-6mm wide. I know Arrie posted that his donor scar shrunk around month 3-4, but this is really worrying me. I sent an email to Janna about 5 minutes ago, and I trust her to let me know if I have anything to worry about, but until then I wanted to post and get opinions from some of the vets here. Hope you guys enjoy the pics... looking forward to hearing your opinions! Thanks!
  15. Did I mention that Nioxin does nothing to help hair growth?
  16. Nioxin does nothing, I repeat, nothing to help hair growth. In case I didn't mention it yet... Nioxin does NOTHING to help hair growth. But I do like the way it smells. =)
  17. Not sure what I did to help, but it looks like you had a pretty clean job. Take it easy for a while (easier said than done). I've tried to be super super careful with my donor area and I am still afraid that its stretching a little. Shoot me an email if you have any questions I can help with. Remember to take your pain meds. Also, remember that ICE IS YOUR FRIEND. =) Good luck bro.
  18. Whoa, Janna put her picture up! =) I haven't been on the forums in a little while... is this old news? lol
  19. You said that was what you plan covered... Keep in mind 2 things: 1, proscar isn't that expensive. 2, if you put proscar on your insurance, it may red flag you later as someone who has prostate problems, and cost you more to get insurance at a later date. Proscar for hair loss is an off-label use (even though its the same thing as propecia, just 5mg instead of 1 mg), and is typically prescribed for prostate issues. I'd rather just pay for it straight up. Its only what, 25 bucks for a 3 month supply?
  20. I had flaky skin on my forehead a bit after my procedure, even in areas where there were no grafts at all. I asked Dr. Shapiro, and he said that any time your skin suffers any type of trauma, it can happen.
  21. 10% is ludicrous Aq. I researched Shapiro for 2 years before I made the jump, and I only found 2 cases out of hundreds where the patients weren't 100% happy. Mudpuppy, who felt Dr. Shapiro should have gone for a larger session, and M&M, who would tell you himself that its not even that hes not happy, he just felt his scar was a bit wider than he wanted. Can you show me any more? Any more. Any forum. I'm not sure what happened to you bro, but I'm sorry if you had a bad experience. Respectfully though, it seems like you like to do a bit of scare-tactics. My HT was NOT open heart surgery.
  22. Thanks Bill. Not panicking by any stretch. I get what you're saying though. =) And Fallenstar, I definitely will man. I'm planning on taking pictures every 2 weeks or so. I'll keep uploading them here.
  23. Hey, thanks for the encouragement. =) I guess I am a little worried because I am such a tosser/tuner when I sleep.... cant help but rubbing my head all over my pillow when I'm asleep, which is obviously not good for the donor area... I think.... I dunno. lol Funny, you research for years and years and there is always something you worry about that you never even considered pre-op =)
  24. Gah, I'm shedding like crazy. Sigh... Question... did anyone else think their scar was wide because of a scab that was covering it, but then when the scab came off notice that it was really thin? I am afraid my scar is stretching a bit on my right side, but I can't really tell because most of it has scabbed over... anyone else experience this? By the way, hope everyone is having an amazing holiday!
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