Transplant Day

The transplant team

We had to get to the clinic at around 9:30 to 10 am on the Thursday morning, so I set my alarm clock on my mobile phone to go off at 7:30am - sufficient time I thought to have a shower, get dressed and have breakfast before leaving.  I did wake up at around 5:30am, but decided to go back to bed - despite it being light at that time.  I dozed for another hour, got up and then decided it was still too early to get up.  I was woken a short while later by a knock on the door saying it was 8:30 - I looked at my mobile and it said it was only 6:30 am - I HAD FORGOTTEN TO  PUT IT FORWARDS BY 2 HOURS BECAUSE O F THE TIME DIFFERENCE - DOH!!!!!!
Panic stations - quick shower and got ready - I had been left strict instructions that I had to have a big breakfast in preparation for the long surgery ahead.  My driver waited patiently for me to finish and then off to the clinic for my hair.
The staff were waiting for me when I arrived, but wanted my nerves to settle before everything started so we sat around a table with tea and chatted for 15 mins before I was ushered into the operating room.  The doctor gave me an injection into my hip to completely relax me and then waited a few mins before starting the injections into my scalp to numb me, it was a completely painless procedure.
Two of them then started removing the follicular grafts whilst the two others prepared the grafts for the later transplants into the thinning areas.  The doctor also suggested that I use some of the implants to round off the hairline to give it a more feminine contour, so I agreed to this.
After about 4 hours all the grafts had been removed so we adjourned for lunch lol (I do find this quite comical on reflection) - then it was back onto the operating chair for the graft sites to be prepared and then all he grafts were carefully placed into the sites.  Then it was time for a coffee and some cake (fortified with various minerals) and then time to say thank you and farewells.
Because I had previously had some 'punch' grafts done in the ealy 1980's, unfortunately they were only able to perform 2940 grafts instead of the 3,500 planned, but she assured me that it would be sufficient for me.
The only drawback is that I cannot wear the wig for another 10 days and as I had had my head shaved I was going to have to do a Sigourney Weaver and walk around for the next 10 days bald.  Oh well, if that is the price of having a full head of hair in the future, then it is a price worth paying.
When I went down to dinner that evening (dreading the reaction as you can imagine) the other girls were absolutely fine about it - very sympathetic and also interested in what had been involved.  By that time a slight headache was coming on on so I decided to retire for the night as I had been instructed that I had to lie down as much as possible over the next two days.
I did a little bit of updating my friends on the internet and then went to bed although I slept fitfully throughout the night, plagued by a mid headache.  The following morning (today) I woke up and the headache was gone, no pain at all - but just a slight swelling.  Engin came later after breakfast and removed the dressings and now I am just resting on my bed writing up my experiences to my blog.