EMAN's HT on Sep. 24, 2008 with Dr. Rahal...4278 grafts!!

Eman's journey begins...

Left Chicago on Tuesday for Ottawa (I attached the pic of my girlfriend and I at the airport), arrived at around two and went in to Dr. Rahal's office for my pre-op consultation the day before surgery. Prior to meeting with Dr. Rahal I had spoken to him twice, once for the phone consult (I attached those ugly pics for everyone to review) and once when calling the office to speak with Adrian. We reviewed the procedure, began the design of my hairline, and I asked an extensive list of questions I had. Not once did I feel pressured or hurried and all of my questions were thoroughly answered. Dr. Rahal is extremely patient and took as much time as I needed. At this point my excitement grew as did my nervousness (it's just my nature).

Oh, I got to meet Adrian as well and he is just as friendly, easy-going, personable, and knowledgeable in person and his hair looks GREAT!! Following my meeting with Dr. Rahal, I was able to meet the patient of the day from Denmark (Need more hair is his avatar). I spoke with him post op (he was tired but the recipient area looked really good and clean) and I got to see first hand what I would look like the next day (he said he will be posting pics for all of us). Following my talk with Need more hair, Dr. Rahal drove me to downtown Ottawa (I appreciate the ride Dr. Rahal!), so I could do a little sight seeing. Ottawa is a nice little city, with lots of diversity, history and good restaurants. I also began getting cold feet over having the procedure the next day (again, part of my nature).

Got back to Adam's Inn and took an Ambien CR (I borrowed one (ok- not quite the right word) from a friend of mine) around nine or so and had a great night sleep. Woke up, took a nice long shower and walked from Adam's Airport Inn to Dr. Rahal's office"”yes, I walked!! Wanted to stretch my legs before sitting in the chair all day. At this point the nerves were gone thanks to sleep and talks with my girlfriend. I was definitely excited!!

Dr. Rahal met with me and answered more of my questions and designed my hairline with some of my input (he truly is an artist) at around seven. Took some meds, drank some gatorade, got in the chair and Dr. Rahal began with the strip. A bunch of freezing shots later (little stings at most) and Dr. Rahal began removing the strip. To be honest I really didn't feel or hear anything with the strip removal. Once removed, the cutting began. I think there were about seven techs cutting the hairs out of the strip. Dr. Rahal began his artistry by making incisions for over two hours, again I really didn't feel or hear much of anything. All along there was the nurse Alana (sp?) working along with the doctor and techs making sure I was doing well (thanks!). Then around five techs at one time began transplanting the hairs. As the freezing wore off, Dr. Rahal would give more shots and diligently work with the techs to make sure everything was going according to his plan. The team of planters changed constantly throughout the day, so there was always fresh techs working on my head.

A few hours of great music, a break, a movie, lunch break, second movie, a break, third movie, a final break, a couple of more incisions, some clean up and I was done. 4278 grafts, ten hours later and I was done...super excited, exhausted, but done. I cannot thank everyone in the office enough from Adrian, Dr. Rahal, Alana, and all the techs...THANK YOU. I was comfortable, cared for, monitored at all times. The amount of work and the diligence and thoroughness of everyone was amazing.

Dinner was provided and I got a ride to the hotel from Dr. Rahal (it was a kind gesture and shows his patient first mentality) . Sleep the first night was a little rough. In and out of sleep all night, but I did sleep. I met up with Need more hair in the morning and we took a cab together to Dr. Rahal's office for my post-op check up and instructions. I got to meet with Dr. Rahal and take the bandages off and review his work on my very large dome...it was AWESOME to see. The design and cleanliness of the whole area amazed me. He gave me more instructions, gave me my drug gift basket, put some vitamin E on the recipient site and the standard blue cap. I had more questions (surprise, surprise) that Dr Rahal answered. I got to meet tommyf, while he was in the chair and he was doing well and looking good (he will be positng as well).

Customs going home was a piece of cake. Customs coming in to Canada reminded me of going into East Germany as a kid"”sheesh!?! Tough, but leaving was easy, so no one needs to worry. Flight was no problemo. I took my first shower, posted some pics for you all, wrote up my story, and now you have it.

I will post up the pics taken by Dr. Rahal when he sends them to me. If anyone wants to talk, pm me or meet up, I have the time and would love to answer any questions. And of course, I will keep everyone updated.

A huge heartfelt THANK YOU again to Dr. Rahal and the ENTIRE STAFF (xie xie)!!!!!!

Eman

Eman,

That's going to turn out to be a terrifc result. I'm not sure you will even recognize yourself in the mirror, or at least, you won't be able to stop staring at yourself when it all grows in.

Congratulations my friend. I know how long you stewed over this decision in agony, so I'm very excited for you

Take some down time the next few days and take care of those follicles

Best wishes,

Bill (Falc)

Looks great, Eman. That's alot of grafts! With your hair color and skin tone I think you will have a better result than most of your(how should i say this) pastier brethren.

I'm really happy for you. Keep us posted and remember, these next several months will be over before you know it...and then, watch out!

Kman

My long winded story is above!!

Bill and kman, thanks for the comments. I am super, super excited about everything and glad I finally did it. Thanks for your posts

The support of everyone here and the phone conversations I had with everyone really helped in making my decision.

Now the waiting begins. Again if anyone wants to talk I have LOTS of time!!

Eman

Congrats, Eman! Looks really good! Any advices for me concerning the Adams Airport Inn, shops and restaurants nearby, sightseeing in Ottawa, etc.? I'm from (West-)Germany ;-) and will have my procedure with Rahal in a few weeks.

DeDom, Ottawa is a nice small city. Get to the downtown if you have a chance. After your pre-op meeting the day before your surgery, you should head north to the downtown. See the parliament, go down sparks street and the market area. There are also a bunch of nice restaurants just north of the Adam's Inn that are walkable, but the downtown is a lot nicer and has more variety.

The Adam's Inn is fine, the staff however is super helpful. It is comfortable and will serve your needs. It has internet, is clean, has a continental breakfast and is very close to the office.


Since you are an international patient and will be in Ottawa for around a week, I believe Dr. Rahal will recommend that you don't over-exert yourself as that increases the swelling. So, I am not sure how much of the downtown you will experience post-surgery.

If you have any other questions let me know. I was only there three days, so really did not do that much besides on that first day.

Eman

Eman -

Great to see you go forward with the HT. Your post op results look awesome, so clean and the hairline design is perfect. I am happy for you and can't wait for you to get to enjoy your new head of hair. It will be a life changing event for you. I know it was for me.

Im here if you have any questions. Please feel free to PM me anytime. I know I haven't been on these forums for a while but I do come on to read once a week to keep up with everything thats going on in the hairloss community.

Dr. Rahal is a class act. I experienced the same treatment you did and we still keep in touch to this day. He never loses touch with his patients. Be patient and keep busy to get through the doldrums. I worked out again just a month after the HT with light weights and drank lots of protein. I think the shakes helped a lot with the healing and I did get early growth. Who knows..maybe it had something to do with it. Good luck and PM me anytime.

Looks great, man! Glad to hear your experience went so well, and it certaintly looks that way too! You'll be a hairy beast pretty soon.

great stuff man!! with those grafts and characteristics you will be pretty much sorted. good luck to you. this just ups my excitement of going back to dr rahal very very soon. cant wait!!

Thanks Hairfree, still think your result is one of the best...check your PMs

thana- appreciate the post and look forward to that hairy beast period of my life. I have not been there in a long time

azza- as you know, you are in great hands. I have been intently following your case since you went in initially. Your results look really good and the next session will get you where you want to be.

This is going to look fantastic. All your time on this forum was well spent, picking an excellent surgeon. Thats a good amount of grafts. I expect that in a few months you'll forget that you ever had hair loss ake . Take it easy for a couple of weeks and grow well!

hey dude, awsome pics and wicked hairline, looks pretty much like me, man you got to be excited like you said, i haven't given it a second thought since surgery day, just totally estatic, your girlfriend is going to love you.
Keep in touch, and will be in Chigaco soon, over next month or so, should hook up for sure. Glad you dropped in to meet me, hopefully we will be able to bounce things off each other over the long winter ahead!!! I am going to be around here a few more days visiting my sister, she thinks the surgery was awsome, she just looked at the donor and says its pristine and all the grafts look well planted, minimal scabbing yet, so optimistic so far, keeping fingers crossed etc. let me know how its going and no sex or alcohol, remember that!!!!!

tommy

well all-

it has been five days and no swelling to speak of. I had a tad on day one when I took the headband and hat off, but that is all. I am pretty happy I do not have to go through the elephant head stage. The redness is diminishing each day. Just waiting for the big shed.

I have gotten into a routine at this point. Shower first thing, then a little baby shampoo in a cup action (fun times), half hour wait and drip on the vitamin E oil....eat, read, watch tv, internet, then shower again and to bed.

I must say that I have become a little stir crazy with all this sitting around. I am really active, so sitting is beginning to take its toll. I actually froze my membership at the gym, so I would not be tempted.

I am going to call Konior and Keller to see if one of them will be willing to take my sutures out. Any suggestions would be appreciated...

looking fantastic eman,congrats.

Eman -

I hear you, the hardest part of the HT for me was the week after surgery sitting around at home and doing nothing. I am very active myself even on the weekends I can't stand to stay in and watch TV on a Friday or Saturday night. Somehow, I managed to do it. I was lucky to have my fiance at that time to keep me company. We just watched a lot of movies and I spend time on the forums as well. I was back in the gym 3 weeks after HT doing light weights. It helped to get me through the doldrums a great deal.

Thank you for the compliment on my HT. With your hair color, # of grafts and choice of DR....you will have a homerum result. Looking forward to your progress pictures in the future.

Thanks for all the replies everyone!!

Well it is officially one week and nothing new to report here. I will be having my gf take some pics tonight when she gets in and post them for everyone to review.

I know that I said this before, but there has been no swelling to speak of. I actually told my gf before I had surgery that she was not allowed to be here from day three through day five as I did not want her to have to suffer by looking at my watermelon of a head (I know, she has to suffer by looking at me anyway). Never happened, so she stuck around.

Great news, Dr. Konior's office will be removing my sutures next week. BIG KUDOS to them! I will let everyone know how that goes.

Other than that, I am bored to tears. I am seriously going to lose my mind with all this time on my hands. But, on a good note, just finished a book I was reading that I would highly recommend 'I know this much is true' by Wally Lamb.

I will post some pics in a few hours and enjoy the beginning of the MLB playoffs (both Cubs and Sox--I will try to keep positive here)

Eman

I am finally at the two week mark!! The grafts should be locked and loaded at this time. The whole area has crusted up and beginning to flake off--I am ready for the crusts to be gone. Per the good doc's instructions, I am still just using the cup with shampoo technique and no manipulation. The application of vitamin e oil ended on day ten, so I bought some pure aloe which takes away some of the dryness of the recipient site.

Today I went to Dr. Konior's office to have my sutures removed. A super friendly tech did the actual removal of the sutures and Dr. Konior came in to have a look. I had a chance to speak with the doctor for a while and must say Dr. Konior is an incredibly friendly and personable guy. I also had a chance to meet Tom (office manager/consultant I believe). SO, I want send a huge GRACIAS to Dr. Konior, the tech (Jopi sp?), and Tom for removing my sutures, FREE of charge. THANK YOU ALL!!!

I also posted some pics that Dr. Rahal sent to me and some of my day seven pics.

Have a look. I will take some more pics when I shave my head down to even out the clown look.

any updates man?