surgery length for double MX and reconstruction and MRI issue

Typically a BMX with immediate reconstruction/DIEP is a long procedure.  It is my understanding that depending on how your BS and PS work it can take 10 - 12 hours.  My BMX/DIEP took almost 12 hrs.  I was scheduled for surgery at 7am.  I arrived at the hospital before 6am.  My husband spoke to the surgeon around 8pm as I was sent to recovery.  I stayed in a special post surgery unit at the hospital for 5 days.  The flaps need constant monitoring the first few days to make certain there are no complications.  I took 6 weeks off from work to recover.  The recovery was slow but steady.  A visiting nurse came to my house a few times to check on the incisions and make certain the healing continued at home.  I was able to resume all of my activities by 6 weeks.  I drove for short distances at 4 weeks.  I did not need strong pain medicine.  I began pt/ot midway through my recovery time.  An OT came out to my house to get me started on ROM exercises.  It was a pretty intense few weeks, but well worth the outcome.

I had this surgery on March 19 but had to have a TRAM flap instead of a DIEP due to radiation damage from a prior cancer.  The surgery was about 5 to 6 hours.  I was in for four nights but could have left after three.  I had a shower the next morning.  Four drains, three removed after one week, the fourth after two.  I was able to do stairs immediately when returning home.  My PS does not do binders or wraps, said no bra for a few weeks.  I started on walks on the block immediately and now do a few miles at a clip.  So I am just beyond 7 weeks out.  My belly button is having some delayed healing so I have to dress it twice a day.  I have used calendula and coconut oil and do scar massage.  In some areas the scars are quite faint already.  I am trying to be good about not doing too much but I am itching to get out in my garden.  I have a prescription for PT but I may skip it as my range of motion is pretty much normal.  I was expecting much worse.  I am 64 so I really thought recovery would be more difficult.  Guess I am lucky!  Also lucky in that the uninvolved breast which I insisted come off had 3 cm of Grade 3 DCIS just like the other one, but not detected by mammogram.  Had a feeling about that, I must say. Maybe an MRI would have picked it up.  So far, so good.  I see the PS next week about nipples, but my thought is to wait until fall when there is more clothing to cover up as they heal.  Also can't interfere with gardening season with more procedures!