Pre-op Rogaine use (and PCOS related hair loss)

[WhoKnows 288]

Hi, this is my first post, so bear with me if I get something wrong. Reading on here the past few days has been immensely helpful. Anyway, I'm pre-op, waiting for approval from my insurance company (any day now I'm hoping), and I have PCOS. My main PCOS symptom has been pretty drastic, non-hereditary Hair loss, so my endocrinologist put me on a special mixture of topical estrogen (my testosterone/androgen levels are too high) and Minoxidil, the active chemical in Rogaine. I've been applying it to to my scalp twice a day for a year now and my hair loss has stopped and I've even had some regrowrth, so I'm happy with the results. (For anyone interested, I live in Germany and I don't know if such a mixture would be available in the US. Should I ever move back to America, I would just switch to Rogaine.)

What I'm wondering is if anyone here had a similar situation before surgery? I've seen some people toying with the idea of taking Rogaine after surgery once the hair loss starts, but everyone seems to agree it's not the best solution for the temporary hair loss caused by extreme weight loss. I'm committed to taking Rogaine for the rest of my life if need be (though of course I'd love it if my hormones sort themselves out after surgery and I can try coming off it eventually).

To anyone who was using Rogaine at the time of surgery: did you still lose your hair? If so, did it come back around month 8-9 like everyone else's seems to? i.e. did the Rogaine continue working for its original purpose, but not pick up the slack for the extra hair loss that comes with surgery? Or did you find you didn't lose much extra hair at all? Or was the Rogaine unable to contend with the shock of surgery and weight loss, resulting in the same amount of hair loss (or worse??!) as everyone else?

Also, just a bonus question to those with PCOS related hair loss in general: once the post surgery shed stopped, where did you end up hair-wise? Like it was pre-op? Better? Worse?

Sorry this is so long. I need to get used to posting on forums I guess. There will be many more questions to come once I get my date for surgery. Thanks in advance!