thanatopsis_awry

NG2GB, my scalp actually feel really solid, and even in the later hours of this past day it seems to be healing pretty rapidly. This Wednesday I am going to attempt some exercise -- will be very cautious, and start out at the very bottom and work my way up, just feeling things out. At the very least I wanna break a sweat and be active for an hour or so. NN, definitely. Can't wait to see your progress/results, especially as it looks like your on the cusp of entering follicular primetime!

Must be nice to be on the other side of the tracks! Maybe John Edwards is right -- there really isssssss "two Americas"....

Happy (now belated) B-Day! Cheers to another year evading "Father Time"!

Much appreciated, Janna! I've been pleasantly surprised, and a bit blown away, at how "clean" everything has been since the operation -- lack of blood, scabbing, pain, even redness. A combo of a great HT staff and being real dilligent following post op instructions for sure. And a bit ironic consider the bleeding during the op from my prior night's "reveling"... Thx again.

Never heard of the former duo; ran a search for you and found zilch, as well. As for Gaffney, there was a thread a bit ago about a Dr. Jon Gaffney who was working for Hair Club For Men for a while....either way, I've never seen any of his work. As LA as your location of choice, I think Siporin would a great choice -- I've liked what I've seen, and members have had only increasingly positive things to say about him and his practice. You would be in good hands, for sure. Gaffney and Goldman/Debow may be the best in the world, but if you can't find good, hard (objective) info and examples to back this up it is a crapshoot; a crapshoot, that b/c of sites such as this, which serve as a wealth of exhaustive info and analysis, is not necessary to take.

Thx Dr. Feller, likewise! See you in 6 as I start to enter full bloom.

Here, here! Indeed, staples out and it feels oh so good. Much less painful than I imagined; I had them in for nearly two weeks, so that along with having them taken out @ Dr. Feller's office (as opposed to braving it on my own) prolly' helped make it a smoother extraction. Would definitely recommend having it done this way; while it wasn't painful, I could see how it could very easily be a pretty painstaking (and painful) operation if went at differently. Buzzed the head down after I got home; probably should have went to a pro, but in a fit of impatience and audacity decided to have a go at it myself. Took some pictures which I'll be posting, though the clarity isn't that great due to me not having any digital camera skillz and my friend having shaky hands.....I obv refrained from giving him shi* over this given the mighty secret he holds over me... Will be making 1x month picture updates, which hopefully will become vastly improved w/ regard to clarity ASAP.

Game. Set. Match.

Man, lookin' good; especially the latter pics w/ the hair product, it really has grown in great. And, at but 6 months, you have a lot to look forward to. I agree that you are going to be a "posterboy" (model, showcase example, etc.) fo Heitmann when all is said and done. Can't wait to see your end result!

Ty, ty, my newfound follicles are a blessing indeed. You pretty much nailed it w/ the Bryant poem; combined with the meaning(s) of the word itself, it felt like an apt description of how I felt at a time during my my hairloss "saga" (think depressed and confused, but determined). Ahhh, a fellow McleanHS alum haha...I too moved from NYC to McLean for high-school! Quite the coincidence. More or less I hated it, mainly the teachers and the structure; I don't take well to authority in general, so I am sure I would have disliked any of the other schools I almost went to equally, if not more (I liked the kids quite a bit, actually). Shooting you a PM before I go slumber into sleep, so we can regail one another with tales from "down south"...

The mop looks to be going good and healing great; get the staples out tomarrow (finally) so shall see how the donor is lookin'. I'm anxious to see how it all looks once I buzz down, and particularly the scar w/ and w/o concealer on it. New Castles -- now that is an amber nectar that I enjoy suckling on! Rounds out Stella and Corona as my holy trinity of brew.

Hard to beleive that is just 2k grafts, damn!

My first thought after seeing Balody's pic was: athlete, and most likely not a figure skater....

Anyone else recover from a series of heart attacks? Best football game I've ever seen coming from a Giant's fan.

lol, http://www.stronghealth.com/services/primarycare/domd.cfm The sordid issues surrounding Cole have been touched upon, and why they haven't been clearly enumerated has been answered, as well. FYI, if you want to see them explicitly discussed refer to the forum already mentioned on page 1 of this thread and run a search on Cole and browse through the many links.

The yamikah -- err, crown -- is indeed tricky to navigate as it can consume so many grafts; I've wondered what type of balance I'd wanna strive for, and how much I'd want to commit to the crown at the expense of greater density elsewhere, namely the front. Perhaps because I haven't had to experience noticeable balding there (yet), but I've always felt that I'd much rather sacrfice and be willing to accept a thinning/bald crown to a thinning/bald front. The grass is always greener on the other side, but it seems that a thinned/bald crown wrecks much less havoc on your aesthetics and isn't as obvious like a bad frontal 1/3rd that shows like a 24/7 flashing, neon sign. I don't think I'd "require" as much density in the crown as in the front. If my crown does go, my outlook at this point is to either start going back to synagogue so I can, in good conscience, wear an aptly named yamikah; feel fine with good density in the front but some thinning in the crown; max out my donor between FUE/FUT w/o totally making it look like swiss cheese; or shave my head down and strive for coverage that will look great when buzzed short and FUE my scar. This has been "3AM Crown Musing Theatre".

I'll be shaved down and fully exposed as of Monday. I've competed in various martial arts and most of the people I interact with are aware of this; so I think if a combo of courve and dermmatch don't do the trick, I will brush it up as some weird injury that happened while training or competing and just play it cool and casual and leave it like that. Shouldn't draw excessive suspicion, but time will tell. In general, unless you are kosher with just telling the truth, assigning the mark to some sports injury or freakish accident (like fell and smacked a curb, e.g.) I think is a decent way to go about handling questions. Can also use a concealer to make the scar just look less fresh at the very least, which would give greater credence to an aforementioned -- ficitonal -- story being from the past.

*Completely* agree with the above. Along with weight, hair truly is the key cog in your aesthetics and how you are viewed AND TREATED by other people -- each makes a monumental impact on how you look and your personal vanity, of course, but also the connotations and stereotypes that go along with each which people immediately associate with. Hair is so indelibly tied in with masculinity and virility (I would also argue it is associated with "happiness"); losing a substantial amount of hair is tantamount to being truly obese in my opinion for how it effects your image w/ regard to other people's perception and treatment of you. Being slightly or even modestly overweight bears nowhere near the stigma of hairloss; to say nothing of how it is by far a more fixable problem; look at commercials, movies, plays...not that uncommon to see overweight people cast in a positive light...but to show someone w/ hairloss -- a true rarity and when it does happen they are derided and cast as pariahs. End drunken rant.

Hmmm...how many days off can you get off at the max?

I wouldn't give the slightest concern to rejecting the grafts, it is also entirely out of anyone's control; just worry about me gracing Canada with my newfound locks around the time of your op and engaging in the aforementioned bender w/ your techs....as the Roman's would say: ubi locks, ibi booze...

B spot, *great* reference for someone to run a search on Cole and see open diologues about him -- good....and bad.

Shhhh, just make sure to keep it on the lowdown...we don't want the general pop to know such magnificence can be attained through getting plugs -- err, HTs.....

You have caught the beast extremely early it seems; and, in conjunction w/ the best treatments which you are already on, you definitely have hope and are in prime position to respond well. Nonetheless, MPB is erratic, so it's impossible to really say for sure where you will be in 2 years, let alone where you will be in 20. I'm not sure if you are better or worse off re: roids and how that might effect propecia's efficacy; my guess, however, would be that it is a wash. But again, between catching it so early, being on the best treatments so soon, and having age on your side w/ regard to future treatments, I would be hopefully if I were you. Keep up with the treatments, and don't stress over it.

I don't think the proposal you've outlined is unreasonable; but it's totally subjective to say for sure, of course, and at the end of the day it will be you determining whether their offer is "respectable" enough to take them up on it. It wouldn't surprise me if Rassman and Co. work out something with you along those lines. How discounted the secondary procedure is and who performs what seem like the negotiable terms. I'm curious, when you had your botched procedure, was Rassman still in charge at the time? Also, what is Dr. Pak's standing at NHI?

Hah, ya, I hear ya; I probably wouldn't feel so inclinded to cover up the scar if a guy who runs in my circle didn't also have the same mark that people know the cause of! Thx for the "fallentar" reference, will def check that out. Just re-checked your scar from HT#1, looks to have healed great and is hardly noticeable at a #3 buzz, nice to see! I plan on keeping my hair buzzed for ~5months and then let it grow out, so I'm prolly going to try out concealing it to be safe. I'm healing well, thx, can't wait to get these bloody staples out though (this monday going in for removal/check up); and yes, my precious grafts seem to be jumping ship already...they will be missed, but not forgotten. How about your grafts, almost all of them jump ship by this point?