The Bachelor's Lesley Murphy has undergone surgery to insert breast implants 12 weeks after a preventative double mastectomy.
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Lesley, who competed on Season 17 of The Bachelor starring Sean Lowe when she worked as a political consultant, apparently went under the knife at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock, AR.
Lesley took to Instagram on Monday, sharing a photo of herself recovering in a hospital bed as she was making a peace sign with both hands.
"Happy with a 100% chance of swollen. Exchange surgery was a success and a huge difference from the double mastectomy surgery. After 3 hours I woke up and drank some ginger ale, saw my mom, discussed things with my sweet nurse and was wheeled out of my favorite hospital... where I felt like we hit every bump in the road on the way home. Ouuuuch," Lesley captioned the picture.
"My plastic surgeon said he tried many different variations and sizes and after consulting every woman in the hospital, he decided on 500 CC implants, which is actually smaller than my expander size when you take into consideration those CCs plus the bulky expander. Dr. Wright, thank you for ridding me of those boulders and giving me my normalcy back! You are a magician and I am in awe of your talents."
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Lesley also thanked the rest of her team at UAMS because they treated her "like a queen" ever since she first walked through the hospital doors in early March.
"What an incredible experience this has been. #lesleysbreasties #lesnipsbrcainthebud #breastcancerawareness," the 29-year-old travel blogger concluded.
Lesley had "preventative surgery" in early April after testing positive for the BRCA2 genetic mutation, which put her at a high risk of developing breast and/or ovarian cancer.
Lesley previously revealed she had decided to go through with a double mastectomy because she watched her resilient mother battle breast cancer, which she had been diagnosed with in 2014. Lesley's mother is currently in remission.
Lesley -- who finished in fifth place on The Bachelor in 2013 and was eliminated just before hometown dates in the show's seventh episode -- first opened up about getting breast implants on Sunday, July 2.
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"Over the past 12 weeks, I had a prophylactic double mastectomy and watched as 90 CCs of saline were pumped into my expanders every Tuesday, making a grand total of 460 CCs. It's been my craziest adventure to-date... I would literally look down in my plastic surgeon's office and watch my nurse insert the most massive needle into my boobs where they would then grow right before my eyes," Lesley shared on Instagram.
An expander was put into place to stretch Lesley's chest tissue in order to make room for her breast implants. She also received injections of a salt water solution to inflate the expander.
"Medicine is the coolest, and even though they don't exactly look natural in this photo (or any day for that matter), I kind of love them and all of their awkwardness. In just 83 days, I went from a completely flat chest in horrific pain to somewhere around a comfortable C-cup. Well... as comfortable as I can be in these expanders. The best way I can describe them is like two big boulders on my chest," Lesley wrote.
"True story: I tell everyone to poke them just because I think it's hilarious to see their look of shock once they feel how hard they are. It's insane to think that going from expanders to implants isn't apples to apples, and my exact size is ultimately up to my plastic surgeon's discretion tomorrow as he decides what fits/looks the best (since I'll be comatose on an O.R. table and can't exactly make final decisions."
Lesley continued, "I was always indecisive anyways, and I trust him wholeheartedly. We've had many convos about this :) In a few hours I'll be back in the hospital completing a task I knew I'd set out to do the moment I found out I was BRCA 2 positive. Knowledge is power and I feel powerful knowing I kicked cancer's ass before it could kick mine. The past 3 months have been a whirlwind."
About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski