Reconstructing after being flat for a while?

I'm glad to find this thread as I was about to post a question about this as well. I became flat one year ago in November, my surgeon did a skin sparing double mastectomy, that was not what I asked for, I wanted complete flat, but.. now I'm kinda glad he did. I'm flat but I have almost man boobs, little fat puffs on my chest that remind me of when I was around 11 years old, lol.

I thought I was good with being flat. My mom had breast cancer 9 years ago and chose to go flat, I'm used to it and didn't think anything of it, of course she is 30 years older than me and at a different stage in her life. I've been using empower pads this last year anytime I leave the house, I just don't like how I look without "foobs" I'm not super skinny and after having my ovaries removed (preventive) in April, and going on hormone blockers, I'm now looking like winnie the pooh, I don't like it, I'm 45 and I look like I'm 5 months pregnant, no matter how many crunches I do, walking, etc. I just can't get that belly to cooperate. Hence, I need the foobs or I really look downright terrible, to me. The problem for me has been that the fake boobs are sweaty and they shift around, I'm often grabbing them and resetting my chest, lol.

I didn't think I would want reconstruction, but now I'm not so sure. I hate the thought of more surgery, beside my mastectomy in November 2018, I had emergency open gall bladder surgery in December 2018, two weeks in the hospital because I was septic. Then after finishing chemo, what was supposed to be a simple same day surgery to remove my ovaries, turned into a nightmare. I had scar tissue from the gallbladder surgery and when the surgeon went to do the key hole removal, she hit my intestines! So, that turned into an open surgery to remove the ovaries AND fix my intestines. Another hospital stay for over a week. These were much harder recoveries than my double mastectomy, it took a lot out of me.

So, I thought, no way, I'm not risking anymore of this junk. But as time has gone on and I'm feeling better and have more energy, seeing other women's results has really been making me wish I would have had reconstruction.

I'm scared because of the recalls, and I want to know, will I have to start having mammograms again if I do reconstruction? Right now I have nothing to mammogram and my surgeon just feels my chest every couple of months, as do I on an almost daily basis (habit)

Will having reconstruction make it more difficult to notice a change? It scares me to think I might not be able to feel a lump or bump that has formed if the implant hides it.

I think my fears of the unknown and fear of not feeling a change is what is really holding me back.

Any thoughts or knowledge on this would be greatly appreciated.

thank you in advance

anotherone, thank you so much for your reply! I'm going to see a plastic surgeon next week to discuss options! I'm nervous and excited. I'm reading everything I can on these boards to prepare my questions and then to prepare myself for what I can expect

edited to add: I’ve been doing some research and now I’m feeling less enthusiastic. There have been studies suggesting delaying reconstruction can awaken dormant cancer cells. So now I just don’t. I’m still going to meet with the surgeon, but this has left me feeling very nervous and even if it’s a small chance, I would never want to go forward with reconstruction in that case, I would just have to learn to be ok with what I have