As Admir mentioned, surgery went real well- no major concerns! The staff and my surgeon at Ascension were top-notch: attentive, personable, and highly skilled with flap surgeries. I didn’t get much sleep the last few days because I got sick from anesthesia the first night, and my flap transplant required monitoring via ultrasound every hour, but each check-in showed every indication of a successful transplant and healthy blood flow. 

My scars are pretty gnarly but nothing unexpected. Dr. Paul was able to do some scar revision from my mastectomy surgery, relocate my nipple from my previous necrosis surgery, and maintain my original belly button, but it also had to be moved. My belly is VERY different. In fact, they took so much tissue to make the breasts that I cannot stand up strait or lay down flat. This is causing some major back pain and I can only stand and walk for short periods of time. I had been telling my nurses I felt like Quasimodo because of hunched over I am! Regardless, I will stretch out over time and hope to be able to stand up strait within a couple weeks. Outside of my back and belly incision pain, everything else feels fine. I don’t have feeling in my chest any longer because of the mastectomy, so that’s a blessing in disguise. I also had a pretty bad caffeine withdrawal headache since I could not have coffee since Tuesday. I learned caffeine makes blood vessels constrict, which is why I had to avoid it till discharge. Don’t worry, we grabbed Starbucks before we left the hospital! 

I’ll plan to post some before and after pictures in a few weeks so my swelling has time to go down.  In the meantime, I have weight and mobility restrictions but plans to walk daily. We have a post-op appointment 11/10  at The Bengston Center and will likely make another trip down to IN to see Dr. Paul in the next month or so. 

Thanks again for all of your prayers and never ending text messages this week. We could very clearly feel your love all the way in Indy! 

Chat soon,

Brooke