Help please! Strip transplant good idea?

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i'd really appreciate any help/advice i can get. I've been suffering from hairloss since i was about 23, and i'm 34 now. I was on propecia for nearly a year about 8 or 9 years ago, but decided to come off it as i had pain in my testicles - can't remember if the pain was caused by the propecia use but i associated it with its use so i stopped taking the drug.
I had a consultation in bangkok, thailand with dr prath at the start of the year, he said i had v.good donar density and said how many grafts i got (he only does FUT) would depend on me, but i could get somewhere in the region of 4-5,000. I'm concerned with the side of my head and the back - as can be seen in the pictures i am losing the hair on the right side of my head and also at the back a little. As the hair to be transpanted comes from these regions, wouldn't the fact that it's thinning there reduce the success rate of the transplant?
what kind of success can i expect from a transplant? Is strip surgery the best for me as I have a large area to cover, I don't wear my hair short, and due to the more reasonable cost?
I read that you should go on propecia at least 6 months BEFORE surgery? Is this true? I hope to either have the transplant feb-april 2012, or if not then it would have to be the following year at the same time. shoud i start propecia now, 4 months before the possible transplant, or wait another year whilst being on propecia?
i'd like to do it the transpant this winter and get it over with - hairloss is sucking the life out of me!!
what kind of hair could i reasonably expect to have after the transplanted hair has grown in, as can be seen in the picture, when i brush it all forward and spray it down with A LOT of hairspray, it looks ok, but it can be pulled apart revealing the bald scalp . i don't want to be able to pull it apart and reveal the bald scalp.....i'm less concerned with temples receding and lowering the hair line....