08/12/2025
When you have a breast cancer reconstruction surgery like a DIEP Flap or PAP Flap (or other autologous flap), you are your very own tissue & artery donor. I like to say I’m an amputee (mastectomy is an amputation) and a transplant patient.
For my flap surgeries at a few different hospitals in different cities (because I’m a complicated case with a rare condition on top of my breast cancer world, so we travel for pro surgeons .iabr that have worked on my type of complications and don’t give up on me), I stayed in PACU/ICU for several days with the dedicated RNs rounding on me every hour for the first 48 hours, each flap surgery, with the Doppler & vitals checks and meds. Not every patient needs to have hourly checks beyond the first 24 hours, every case is its own. And some surgeons prefer different blood flow monitoring devices, but the idea is the same 🩸checking the flap tissue for adequate blood supply.
The Doppler is used to listen for the transplanted vessels working to get that needed blood supply to the transplanted tissue on the chest. Tissue needs blood supply to carry vital nutrients so it can live its new life in a different part of the body than before!
These are BIG surgeries with serious recovery afterwards. Choose a surgeon who is proficient at doing these flap surgeries (aka they do them all the time) and is double board certified in plastic surgery and microvascular procedures. I love that is solely focused in her practice on breast reconstruction.
And I love helping fellow breast cancer thrivers prepare for & recover well from these reconstruction surgeries. If you are having a flap surgery in the next 12 months, COMMENT below or DM me: FLAP AHEAD and I’ll personally send you a message. You don’t have to figure out the patient side by yourself! You can go into the surgery peaceful & prepared.
