8 Weeks Post-Op + Survivorship
I’m officially 8 weeks post-op from my reconstruction surgery! It's hard to know where to begin with this update but maybe it will be helpful to walk through the day of surgery and how recovery has been. Surgery Day (April 7) My check-in time for surgery was 6:00 AM in downtown Seattle. The care team at Virginia Mason prepped me, and I met with my surgeon to go over the plan for my DIEP flap reconstruction. We agreed on a backup plan: if anything went awry with the tissue or blood vessel transfer, we’d move forward with implants. Then he had me stand while he made his surgical markings on my tummy. I was rolled into surgery around 7:30 AM. The play-by-play Here is a summarized version of everything that took place during the 9.5 hours I was in surgery: Removed both tissue expanders from my chest (these were placed after my mastectomy) Removed my chemo port from the right side of my chest Carefully dissected and lifted tissue from my lower abdomen (this is the “fl...
