John Walters blog

Day 21: what hair transplant?

I’ve been asked a few times why I kept my hair long on top and as you can see below, this is the reason, I’m at day 21 and totally bypassed the ugly duckling phase by hiding my hair grafts. I feel it has helped a lot because every time I look in the mirror I don’t see the grafts so I don’t think about them all the time. In fact this last 3 weeks have flown by.

Also as you can see I haven’t shed many hairs yet, only a few but I expect to shed a lot more in the next few weeks though, oh well!

 

 

 

Photo on 21-10-2014 at 18.25 #2 Photo on 21-10-2014 at 18.25 #3 Photo on 21-10-2014 at 18.25 #4

Two week update

Not really much to report, the first two weeks have been very easy. I have just been following what Dr Feriduni has instructed and its fine, I did notice a few hairs in my scabs when washing them away but I have been insured that it is normal. I thought I would create a short video to document my hairline. I have attached a video.

Day 5: The Journey Home

Today was the day I decided to travel home, I booked my tickets yesterday as I knew by today my eyes would have gone back to normal. Even though the hotel is beautiful and I would recommend anyone to go there I could not justify spending another 85euros a night when I was fit enough to travel back. The whole trip was extremely stressful, not because of the fact that people were looking at me but because I mistimed it badly and nearly missed 3 separate trains.

But firstly, on the morning of the departure I went down stairs to the reception to settle the bill, they also allowed me to print my Eurostar ticket which was kind of them. I then went back upstairs, said goodbye to George, put my bandana on and reluctantly headed for the exit. My Eurostar train was at 4pm so I left the hotel at 1:45pm. It takes 10 minutes to walk to the station and around 1 hour to travel from Hasselt to Brussels so I though I had given myself plenty of time…but I hadn’t. I not only forgot that it was Sunday trains but also I may have to wait for a train when I got to the station, fortunately I was very lucky as when I got to the platform a train was in, all the doors were already locked to depart apart from the one with the train ticket person who was having one last look before leaving. I ran up to her and shouted “Brussels” to which she replied “Yea”, I jumped on the train, had I arrived 30 seconds later the train would have gone. I didn’t realise how lucky I was until I glanced out of the window to see on the departures board, the next train to Brussels was in an hours time at 3pm which meant I would have certainly missed my Eurostar.

I found a seat and tried my best to ignore people staring at my bandana, I attempted to sleep but was too determined to get home to allow myself to get distracted. The time was soon 3pm (when I assumed I would be in Brussels) and I was still on the train. At 3:20pm we arrived at Brussels Central so I assumed the next stop would be mine, Brussels Midi. I had to wait another 5 minutes to arrive in Brussels Midi, by this point I had 30minutes to find my train and get through passport (which I was dreading). It clearly stated on my Eurostar ticket to checkin at least 30minutes before departure to be safe, I unfortunately did not have this luxury. I ran around like a headless chicken, trying to find the departures lounge, which I eventually found with 15minutes to spare. It was only at this point I felt like I may actually make it onboard the train, I just needed to get through passport control.

The first barrier to get through was the ticket barrier, from what seemed like a big queue from a distance was in fact idiot loved ones waving off people who were to board my train. I waited behind them thinking they were trying to get through until one husband dragged his emotional wife away from the entrance to give me room to pass. Next up was the European Passport control, it was this moment I had been dreading most, I was terrified to take my bandana off but fortunately he paused for a second, looked at my face and let me through. I felt amazing, the worst part was over, however it wasn’t, a long way from being over in fact as I saw the British Passport Control, we really love our borders in the UK and I was amazed I had to go through the whole ordeal again. Once again the guy behind the kiosk paused before letting me pass, I was once again ecstatic, I just had to get through the metal detector and I was sorted. I put all my belongings into the conveyor belt to pass through the machine thingy, then I looked up to pass through the metal detector door when the worker working it signalled for me to take my bandana off, I was petrified but knew I only had 5 minutes left so decided to just do it. I looked ridiculous but walked through, however the detected went off, I felt gutted, I had to go back through, take my belt off and pray to god it didn’t happen again, I was so embarrassed. Fortunately this time there was no hitch and I picked up all my belongings and ran for the train. I boarded with 1 minute to spare. PHEW.

Arriving in England was a relief, though I had to queue for 45minutes in a Virgin Trains queue to print my ticket off, when I boarded the train back to the North West I had 5 minutes to spare (: All morning it was this part that I was most excited about, being back in England and being on the train home. It was great, I arrived home (with the help of a taxi) at 9pm and felt relieved to shut the door behind me. I can rest for the next week and not have to worry about leaving the house.

I ate something for the first time that day and just crashed in my bed, it was over

Day 4: Uneventful

Absolutely nothing to report, as it is Saturday I didn’t go to the clinic to get my hair washed so instead filled up a bottle of water and slowly poured it over the grafts. The reason why I didn’t use the shower hose is because I’m not in control of it, one minute it could turn itself very hot or very fast as some showers I have used have done in the past. At least with this method I am in full control