ok, this is where things have taken a turn.
Hair transplant day was wednesday (14th September 2016).
I was taken to a clinic think somewhere in Belgrano. this clinic felt a little like an aesthetic clinic where beautiful people go to have work done (laser, skin resurfacing, nose jobs, hair implants apparently etc).
this was roughly lunch time.
Ximena helps to fill in my personal details on the consent form. and then i am taken upstairs to my 'recovery room' the place is like an old converted stately home. my room was on the upper floor, and there is a wondrous open balcony area in the middle where you can see the reception below with ornate stained glass above. there iis nothing like this sort of architecture in adelaide, adelaide is less than 200 years old so we don't have this wondrous history and if we did then i wouldn't be able to afford to step into such a building.
Same deal as before take off clothes, put on booties and robe (you get to keep your underwear on this time) and then make your way down to the basement of the building Dr Juan from Dr DiMaggio's team is there who will be perfoming the operation along with another person Natalia.
You sit down on a chair, they grab a texta and then start drawing on your face, i asked for a mirror to see what they were drawing, my biggest concern to cover the scar at the front, the receding corners and not go too far down the forehead. The trade off for this is that they still need to go a little way down the forehead to be able to put follicles in in front of the hairline. So something was drawn, not quite parabolic, not quite widows peak, not quite straight line that joined between where the corners start to proceed curving around to the front and then curving slightly down in the centre to follow the scar line. they lift up the nape of your hair, cut it shortish and then texta the incision line and show you what the donor area looks like.... looks like a 1 cm by 8 cm strip
you transfer to the bed and lie stomach down, they put a blanket over you to help with modesty and to keep you warm and crank up som upbeat tunes (in english strangely, lots of english commercial music in Buenos Aires for some reason). you don't lay face down (especially given how uncomfortable that is on your nose even if my nose change was very slight). you lay your head to the side.
this next bit is all done under local anasthesia, i don't know if i can sugar coat it but i will see how i go.
...sensations warning...
you experience a succession of pin pricks in the back of your scalp followed by a slight pulsing feeling of the anaesthesia being injected. There are quite a few injections as they go around the proposed incision site. then the incisions begin. you can feel the sensation of the cut, as though one cuts through something sinewy you can't feel the pain but you can sense the tugging. it feel slike they cut through a few layers, ant you can feel each layer give way to the knife. There might be no physical feeling from the cut, but your head acts as a echo device so the sounds and the sensations vibrate off your skull. it is a vey removed feeling but it is happening to you. The stitching back once the donor section is removed, is equally surreal. you can feel the thread being pulled through and tugged and bought closed, that sound when you run string through a hole in a can, no where near as bad as that but the sensation of pulling thread through is there. it is not a pleasant feeling, i guess those that have had local anasthesia for tooth and mouth issues might know some of the real solid pulling and prodding motions.
So then you turn around and lie on this newly formed stitched area (don't worry it is still numb, it just feels like a hard lump at the back of your head).
they are worried about my pulse so put a saline drip in me.
and out comes the anaesthesia again with those needles. this is sugar coatingly uncomfortable, especially being so close to the other surgical line. and for some reason, i had a little section on the right of my scalp that would continue to stay sensitive, they tried another shot but it still stayed sensitive. they then started to proceed to start doing the transplants. There were one or 2 initially that i could still fill a sharp pain as they pushed the follicle into my head, maybe 1 out of 10 but as they got further around to the corners, it was all completely numb from the anaesthesia there. you can feel the tool that they use pierce the scin, kind of like piercing a potatoe or onion. multiplied by however many follicles there are to transplant. So all areas are done until they get to that super sensitive part. they try more anaesthesia...and wait a little bit for it to kick in, they ask me what i want to do, i just tell them to go for it. I can fee the initial prick acutely but otherwise the action if numb thank gosh. then it is all finished.
Slowly i sit up, they ask if i want to see, i say no. i am shaking a little mostly through my hands. Carfully they lay me back on a guerney and wheel me back to my room of origin. Set the bed to seat upright and get me under the covers to recover from the anaesthesia. I THINK the time was about 4pm-4:30pm. They also bring me a tea and biscuits to get some glucose and energy levels back.
Ximena comes to collect me a few minutes later but lets me recover somewhat before we head back to the apartment.
The taxi ride home feels like a long one, by now the anaesthesia is starting to wear off, the front of my head feels like i have a gravel rash scar from sliding on the pavement. The back of my head litterally feels like i have been cut open and sealed up. All pain receptors in full swing (unlike the previous operation where there was minimal to no pain).
This is the first time i am truly in pain from an operation. I take the pain killer prescribed for the first surgery in the hopes that it will work, unfortunately it doesn't.
My head is restricted, it feels even more so that you cant move your head in any direction more acute to when the headgear was on for the first surgery.Ximena checks the apartment to make sure i will be ok for the next couple of days.
I have lots of pasta and rice and yogurt to keep me going for the next couple of days, she helps to elevate my bed as i will be needing to sleep upright for the next 48 hours.
this is truly the hardest part of this so far, the pain goes just beyond the bareable point and sleep even though i have struggled with it up to now becomes even harder to find.
This really does feel like the low point of the surgery. Just when the bruising is going down to manageable levels fromt he first one this sets you back with a firm solid sugar coated shove.
the following day (thursday 15th September), the gravel rash feeling has subsided but that incision in the back of your head is ever present, it twinges, it pulls, it sends the occasional pain receptor into overdrive. it is not a fun day. i try not to take any pain killers until it is bed time. the day is an incredibly long one cooped up in the apartment, again unable to shower. this surgery, if it is even possible also makes you much more self conscious. can't cover this with a beanie or head scarfe.
the day is spent trying to restrict head movement. a pain tablet and two more sleeping tablets are taken to try and get something....it is not successful.
And so we arrive at today, friday 16th September, 2 days after hair transplant, 12 days after facial surgery), the wound on the back of the head has become a blunt ache, still hard to apply pressure on it as per sleeping but better than the last 2 days but still very much resent in the awareness category, head is less restricted to turn, looking in the mirror, i look like a mess (still can't wash hair). not sure on the implants but there is still a lot of residual blood/scaring/texta marks so i won't judge for now. Although they didn't shave any visible areas, i fully get kitten_lover's trepidation after this particular surgery. this one really rocks the emotional, and wellbeing boundaries.
Showering and washing hairafter 48 hours is VERY light and not direct with no conditioner), and it isn't until a week later (which will be 23rd September) that i can apply direct water to the area. this is going to be a tough week for self esteem in a foreign country with little to no spanish knowledge and surgery sites that i assume i now can't cover up anywhere near as much.
