An Update, Three Weeks After Reconstruction

Plus a few things I'm enjoying during recovery (lots of pictures!)

May 31, 2026

I’ve been a little quiet on here. Last weekend, we escaped to a farm commune near Éourres, a tiny village in the mountains of Provence. Phone reception was spotty at best, so I abandoned my plans to scribble off a post and spent three blissfully offline days with friends.

Today, I thought I’d share an update on my recovery following a single mastectomy and reconstruction. I know many of you are navigating your own cancer journeys, and I’ve always found these kinds of personal updates comforting and helpful.

I wasn’t sure that I would get breast reconstruction, but earlier this year, it was like a switch flipped and I felt ready (you can read more about my decision here). I decided to remove my left healthy breast at the same time, to lower my risk in the future of developing a new breast cancer.

It’s been three and a half weeks since my surgery, and this was the first week I started to feel more comfortable with my implants (cup size C, a full cup larger than I’m used to). In the days following the surgery, I thought I’d made a terrible mistake. The implants felt distressingly foreign. My skin was stretched, and I could barely bring myself to look at the fresh scars and swollen mounds. I missed the freedom I had before—natural breast on the left, flat on the right.

But I’m relieved to report that my regret has been replaced with tentative acceptance. I’m still swollen and bruised, and the skin feels tight, but less so than in those early days. I also only have to wear the compression bra during the day now, versus around the clock. You know that feeling of removing your bra at the end of the day? Removing a compression bra is that feeling times a thousand.

Soon after my surgery, I had to start smearing a thick repairing cream over my scars (one over my right breast, and another under my left), followed by an oil around the scars to nourish the skin. I’ve since replaced the ointment with a gel and a different massage oil. I’m not sure what the benefits are of these new concoctions—I simply nod and smile when the nice French nurse tells me what to use. Later this week I can do away with the compression bra entirely, and start bathing and swimming again. Hooray!

My energy comes and goes. I started work again this past week, but because I work from home, the transition hasn’t been too jarring. I can’t start exercising until the eight-week mark, which is hard. I’ve started walking, and am now managing 8,000 steps a day.

I look in the mirror and I’m not sure what to think. The implant on my cancer side, the side without a nipple, doesn’t exactly scream “breast” to me. Right now it has the shape of a breast, but there’s no nipple, and a fresh purple scar cuts across it. If I run my fingers over it, I can feel the prick of stitches that are yet to dissolve. The lower half of the breast, beneath the scar, is also red in patches and the skin is peeling.

I’m not sure how things will shake out. Will it ever fully resemble a breast? I don’t know. What I do know is that it will never feel like I have my breasts back—that chapter is closed. So I adjust and accept, something I’ve grown accustomed to doing since my cancer diagnosis.

A Few Things I’ve Been Enjoying During Recovery

Long walks around my neighborhood.

Homemade elderflower syrup from a friend. I mix it with sparkling water and top with lots of ice.

Reading, a lot. Books I finished recently and loved: Yesteryear, Strangers, Famesick, When Breath Becomes Air. I recently started Wild Dark Shore—I’ll report back. I’m also planning a deep dive on Rachel Cusk this summer, starting with Aftermath, recommended by a friend with fabulous taste in books.

Cooking simple summer meals.

Camping with friends (Because of my surgery, I stayed in a yurt perched on a hill like a queen, while my family and friends camped in the meadow below).