On Monday I had my third HT at the Farjo clinic(fourth in total) It was a day that will be etched in my memory forever for another reason though.

Upon arriving at the clinic at eight o'clock I informed Dr. Farjo that my father was very ill in hospital and could go at any time. Therefore I asked him if he could possibly work around my existing hair as opposed to cutting it very short or even shaving it, as there was every likelihood of me needing to attend a funeral in the next week or two. He said it would be slightly trickier and would take an hour or two longer but was quite happy to do it given the circumstances.

I was very nearly sent home without an HT as my initial blood pressure result was sky high. (Dr. Farjo put this down to my recent stress in relation to my father) He gave me a sedative and said he would do another test in twenty mins. Thankfully it had reduced enough by then to go ahead.

I have had a total of around 2500 grafts over three procedures over the last ten years, and I was hoping for that amount again with this HT. Dr. Farjo said what he would like to do would be to take out the two parallel scars I have at the back but this would probably mean me getting closer to 1500 than 2500 grafts. The other option was to leave those scars but take out of my Rogers scar at the side, allowing me possibly 2000-2500 grafts.(There were issues with my scalp laxity after three previous HT's, and although my hair quality is good, the density is not so great) Hair greed took over, and I asked Dr. Farjo to get as much as he could, as this probably my last chance for a good sized strip surgery.

In the end I got around 2450 grafts mainly in the front third with a few hundred in the crown, and I can tell from the placement and dense packing that I'm going to be really happy when it grows out. The Doc also told me that I have a fair amount of donor left should I need to address the crown in the coming years.

I want to thank the Farjo clinic and all the staff for their professionalism and willingness to go the extra yard. They were working away on me from nine in the morning to around seven-thirty at night. I'm sure had they shaved my hair, they would have got away a lot earlier.

When I got back to my car in the multi-storey car-park across the road, I rang my brother back home to find out about my dad. He gave me the news that he had passed away that morning. I'll have the image of that desolate car-park engrained in my memory forever. It made me think what am I even doing here, doing something so vain and self-obsessed. I guess I'll be glad I did it a few months down the road though.

I want to say a big thank you to Mick for booking me into a hotel for the night free of charge. As things worked out though, I just wanted to get home to my family so I drove straight home. My mum was in tears begging me not to risk the long drive after my procedure, but I assured her I felt fine and was ok to drive.

Finally I just want to say that even as late as Friday of last week, as thing were happening rapidly with my dad, Mick gave me the opportunity to cancel my appointment with no loss of deposit.(He even told me later he would have let me cancel as late as Sunday night with no loss of any money) I went ahead with it as there had been a slight improvement in his condition but sadly over the weekend he deteriorated.

So , all in all, an eventful day. Again, thanks to all at Farjo for their dedication. I'll be posting pics as soon as I get them from Mick, and I'll be doing regular updates over the next few months.

LP


Last edited on Wed Nov 5th, 2008 04:41 pm by longpig

Hey...read your post. My heart goes out to you. I know I would probably have felt the same way, like what the Fxxx am I caring about my hair as an event that transcends every imagineable event is unfolding. But, remember, you are only doing something to improve yourself. Being there in spirit is equally important. I am sure this is only minimal consolation, but feelings and kharma go a long way.

hi lp,as i said on the other forum my sincerest condolonces to you and your family.
i look forward to seeing your pictures when your ready to put them on.

hi LP,
my sincerest condolences to you and all your family members....i cannot imagine how u must have been feeling around the whole week leading up to and after friday :-(
i hope no-one including yourself will judge your decision on events.
i was at the Farjo's clinic this week on wed/thur for my HT#2 and i was a little nervous without any other issues to worry about.
I am really glad to hear how your were treated by whole Farjo team, good to know there are some real decent people around & not after just the $$$.

I think all our prayers & thoughts are with u, bro.
hope u get through this tough period in ur life.
all the best

FS

Longpig,

As I commented on , - Where do i start my friend? First of all i am so so sorry for your loss and the mental agony you must have felt and still be feeling. Mate i too lost my father and its a tough hill to climb and certainly puts things into perspective. To have to go through the loss of your father is tragic and for that you have my deepest condolences. Combined with the surgery and the soul searching to go through - i commend you. You were not to know and this is just one of those terrible timing coincidences.



I am sure the surgery will be a great success so stay strong as that is just a waiting game now mate and also time will heal your heart mate. Time is the best healer mate and I wish you the very very best.

Best Regards

Spex

Longpig,

I'm so sorry to hear about the loss of your father. I can only imagine how difficult it is to lose someone in your immediately family, and someone so close. My heart goes out to you and my prayers upward.

I do however, want to congratulate you on your hair transplant with the Farjo clinic. It sounds like they've taken great care of you and I trust that you will have great success in restoring your hair.

I hope you'll share your before and postoperative photos with us and than chart your progress so we encourage as you embark this journey. You are not alone my friend.

Best wishes,

Bill (Falc)

Apologies for not responding to the comments sooner - for some reason I can only log on to this site on my work computer and I have only returned to work today.

Thanks so much to all who have commented. Your words mean a lot. I'll add pics when I have a spare couple of minutes.

LP

quote:

Thanks so much to all who have commented. Your words mean a lot. I'll add pics when I have a spare couple of minutes.

Look forward to them mate Hope you are ok

Longpig,

You can't access this site from home? Please send me a PM so I can help you with that.

All the best,

Bill (Falc)

Im so sorry to hear about your loss, and am not at all suprised you were treared with so much respect and courtesy. As a past patient of Dr farjo and hopefuly soon to be another my treatment from Dr and Mick was superb I had 2 ops soon to send pics.

Thanks forchie

Just a quick post to say I've finally created a blog.

For some reason the posts don't read chronologically but the dates are clearly shown.

I'm trying to put a link to the blog in my posts but not sure if that's working yet.

Congrats longpig that's a great improvement

Longpig,

Thanks for coming back to update us on your results. I agree there is a very nice improvement since you've been to the Farjos.

As far adding journals in chronological order, I too have experienced similar issues when posting multiple journals on the same day. What I've done to trick it is change the date of each journal entry one day later. You may want to go back and update the date on each journal entry to several consecutive days in a row starting with the one you want first, etc.

I hope this helps.

Bill (Falc)

I spoke with Mick from farjo today and he was brilliant i got totaly honesty from him. they didnt even recomend me to have strip with them but recomended Dr Feller for fue in my case. and even tho they arnt getting my custom he is going out of his way to ask the doctor about any questions i have and says they will help me as much as they can. very good guys at that clinic only if all were as polite, honest and helpfull as this instead of just thinking about the money and sale. cant speak highly enough of them. if you see this Mick thanks once again
credit should always be posted where due.

Thanks for the comments guys.

Falc, thanks for your advice on the blog, I'ver got it sorted now.

Balboa. That's typical of Mick and Dr. Farjo, no hard sell at all, just good, honest advice.

Hope you get sorted.

Great stuuf Longpig - thanks for the update. I hope you are yours are well!
Regards
Spex

Thanks a lot Spex,

It's been a long, stressful year but we've all come out ok the other side.

hey Longpig,
not sure if u remember me...we were at Farjo's in the same week in nov 08.
its great to see ur results, brilliant mate, u dont look a bald geeza any more :-)

ur crown is still ok, i had to get mine sorted as it looked like terminal 5 before the HT2 ;-)

happy growing..
FS

Hi FS,

Thanks for your comments.

Yeah that's right, I think I said something to the doc along the lines of: 'I hope you're not treating this as a warm-up gig for when the famous Fallenstar is in the chair!'

Have you taken any recent pics of your crown work?