I was never more dependent on others, since my childhood days, than I was after my TRAM flap reconstruction, immediately following my double mastectomy.
I mean seriously, I was cut hip-to-hip, hardly able to walk upright let alone lift anything for weeks, all the while nursing a seriously sore chest that had been to battle and back. Some of you know first hand what I mean, don’t you? That particular surgery defines debilitation — it’s unreal.
When I first returned from the hospital, I learned some serious lessons about humility. I was officially bedridden, with more drains coming out of my body …read more

Is that a question you ever thought you’d be asked? But if you are meeting with a plastic surgeon to discuss your reconstruction options, it’s one you need to ponder.
You’re going to love Dr. Narayan,” my friend said to me as we talked over coffee one morning after my second diagnosis. “He did the neatest little trick with a cocktail napkin in his office when I met with him, showing me how he’d reconstruct my nipples if I chose to have a mastectomy. I almost wanted to have surgery just for those nipples he was promising me!
I did …read more