April 23, 2007LOVE STORIES
Providence Journal
By Connie Grosch
“I started losing my hair after a hysterectomy at age 45. The doctor said, ‘It’s a hormone change.’ They kind of ignored it. I had blood work done, went to a skin doctor, an endocrinologist, and it just kept getting thinner and thinner. I had to do something. I couldn’t stand the idea of wearing a hairpiece.”
Pat Branca, 58, a recovery room nurse, did extensive research and eventually narrowed her options to one: a hair transplant. She took her husband, Tom, along on one consultation. “I said, ‘You should come with me. It’s a free consultation.’ ”
Tom, 60, is semi-retired and does consulting work in the financial and high-tech fields. “My father is totally bald, my brother is totally bald and I still have something, so I thought I was doing pretty well. My decision was one of moral support. I would not have done anything about my baldness were it not for Pat. Besides, all three of our children are grown, out of the house, gainfully employed and self-sufficient. All tuitions are paid, so we had some free cash to use for hair transplants.”
“I was going to do it in any case,” says Pat, “but it was really nice having Tom do it with me.”
Pat and Tom were in adjacent rooms for the surgery four months ago. “You sit in these really comfortable chairs and watch TV or a movie,” says Pat. “They numb your head, then take a strip of hair from the back bottom of your head. They divide that into individual follicles. “There’s so much self-treatment to do at the beginning,” says Pat. “Right after surgery, we had to put ice on our heads. Then there are creams and antibiotics — we did it for each other.”
“We would question each other, ‘How does yours feel? Does yours still feel numb? How numb is it?’ ”
They were told that men usually see results in about four months, but that it takes a bit longer for women — six months or so. “Just yesterday, I said ‘Tom, you’re getting hair!’ I was jealous — his is really filling in.” But Pat says her hairdresser has also noticed new growth. “For years he has been saying, ‘What’s happening to your hair?’ I didn’t want to be one of those little old ladies you see in church with the bald heads.”
The Brancas, who have been married for 35 years, go for follow-up infrared light treatment once a week now. It had been twice a week following the surgery.
“We’ve kind of made a date out of it,” says Pat. “We go together and then out to lunch. It’s fun!”
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