Laser Hair Removal Progress...

J and I had laser appointments the other day.  We're on about an 8 week cycle so we can go together, although this one was 10 or 12 due to J's schedule having been altered a bit since our last session.  We were running a bit later than we would have liked, actually about 5 minutes late, but as luck would have it our technician had just finished her previous client so she was able to immediately take us back and get the cream on my face.  Since we started going together we generally show up and have that done and since that normally sits for about a hour, I'll get my face creamed and then J and I will sit and chat for maybe a half hour in the side room.  Then our tech will come and get J and do her areas, and then come and get me as well to do mine.  It's nice that she is able to go with me as sitting in that room for a hour by myself was boring despite me having my phone and/or iPod, so it's nice to chat; and generally J stays in the treatment room when I'm getting mine done so she can carry the conversation.

Well in this case that's how it went down, but I was a little more bored than normal so I happened to look over on the counter and my treatment paperwork was lying there and I was able to see all of my treatment dates.  Somehow I had over-estimated how many sessions I had actually had.  This past week was actually only my 11th face session, and my third back of neck session (the last two of those were concurrent with my face, and I had one that was just a back of neck session).  I'm not sure how I thought I was around 15-16 sessions, but I now feel a lot better as I've obviously spent a lot less money that I've thought; and I do have significant progress.  The session itself was fairly painless this go around, sometimes the cream seems to be more effective than others and this was one of those times, although I'm sure the ibuprofen helped as well.  The back of my neck actually almost felt good as she uses a different setup for that - it's one that sucks in the skin and does it's thing.  It's very warm, but for the most part as I said it almost feels good.  The only issue I have is that I've asked her to go a touch higher than she might normally as I have trouble shaving the "crease" where the back of my neck hits my head.  Some might ask why that matters, but my wigs tend to sit right about there and I've gotten an ingrown hair or two from it so it's actually the reason I'm having the back of my neck done.  It tends to take her several tries to get the machine to achieve suction in that area, but she's persistent and does get it.

After the session was over, while she was filling out our treatment charts, I asked the question that had been on my mind for a while now and that was about my "parts".  I know some SRS surgeons (many? most?) want the hair removed "down south" if at all possible.  I really had been hoping that I could get it done at the same place since I'm comfortable there, so I finally muscled up enough courage to inquire.  Maybe I'm just a baby, but I just had a hard time asking about having my "parts" lasered.  Thankfully she said it wouldn't be a problem to have it done, although upon discussing it a bit I may have to wait a couple of sessions as they do prefer to not do an area for one year after surgery and my orchi was 2/15/14 and as things sit I'll have a session in November and then again in January.  If I have to wait until March's session, it's probably not a huge deal as even if J's insurance decides to cover surgery this coming year I doubt there's anyway I could get everything scheduled until mid-to-late 2015 as only a few surgeons currently take insurance and they tend to have longer waiting lists.  Actually there may be an upside to that as perhaps my face will be "done" or at least as done as laser will get it by then, I guess we'll have to see.

I will say I'm a touch concerned about how painful it will/won't be.  The face has ranged from not bad to hard to take depending upon the session; but my back of neck has been a piece of cake.  Considering I have less "parts" down there these days I'm not sure how that will work out.  The other question becomes what to actually have done.  Dr. Bowers for example has a little chart on her page showing what she suggests and she suggests leaving some hair for scar coverage.  After talking with J about it, I'm leaning towards all the hair as really I'm not going to be out "dating" or anything, I'm happily married to J and having no hair down there has some appeal, especially since J seems to be okay with whatever scar(s) I might end up with.  

So I guess I'm not really sure I had a point here, I should probably get some sleep since J is peacefully sleeping for work in a few hours - I will miss her being back at work, having her home on vacation was so wonderful.  With that I'll bid everyone good night and have a great weekend everybody.

- M