Loma Glad it wasn't too bad and you are recovering
hnd Now at least you know. I have three friends who had the flap but from the stomach rather than the back but can ask any questions you might have, they were not big boobed though so no implants. One like you had DCIS so mastectomy and immediate recon, one had chemo following and that is the only occasion I have heard of problems, the chemo killed off some of the flap, and the third had recon a couple of years after her mastectomy, chemo and Herceptin. My surgeon suggested I might need some evening up because it is harder to match little boobs - I started out with the smallest size of prosthesis (I haven't overcome my wimpyness felt the need to get recon so far - 11 years!!) so I got the impression that big boobs are easier, friends all medium sized. I think the only con is that it is a big operation, you wake up feeling you have been hit by a bus and you have to spend a couple of days in high dependency being kept very warm and sweaty to make sure all the plumbing works. They are all very happy with the result and glad they had it done.
I love the tampon crafts, if only I had seen that page when I was Rusty, the Beaver Scout Leader 
don't ask!! (the things we do for our children)
MAS blood tests - aagh. Chemo left me with the veins of a drug addict, the only ones you can get to show are on the back of my hand and they collapse at the sight of a needle so it always takes extensive mining. I take one of those hand warmers with me when I go, a tip from my friend the nurse, that nurses and labotomists never seem to think of. I'm supposed to get regular blood tests for the chronic low white blood cell counts but I avoid them.
I think your book idea is great. A friend in publishing tried to fly the idea of a book of "emails from the chemo frontline", she collected a few up, but she was a bit disgusted that her company seemed only interested in trauma tales or books of pinkness and make up tips, and said that the Cancer book marketplace was very crowded, I think a couple of the Guardian journalists who have written about their experiences had the same reaction, but did get published eventually on the back of what they had written in the newspaper. I agree with smee that humour is your best friend when it comes to Cancer and it would be good to have a book out there that takes the piss out of it all and shows you can laugh after dx. Perhaps the Mumsnet connection might help?
gigs DD1 liked to disco in the night. She was a cot hurdler too. I'm afraid we became rigid disciplinarians, we couldn't even go into the room when she woke in the night or it would establish a pattern.On one night when she had learnt to talk she woke in the night and I was listening to her gurgling through the monitor (I would have had a webcam in her room if they had had them then) and she suddenly said "Head stuck" so I rushed into her room to see her stood up laughing. Can't get her out of bed now though of course!!