'Bachelor' Star Lesley Murphy Shares Update 'Not For The Faint of Heart' After Double Mastectomy

Two weeks after her preventative double mastectomy, former Bachelor star Lesley Murphy is sharing [...]

By PopCulture.com Staff

Two weeks after her preventative double mastectomy, former Bachelor star Lesley Murphy is sharing an update on her post-op progress.

In a video Murphy posted to Instagram, she shared the process of removing the drains that have been attached to her breasts for the past two weeks after having them removed.

"We are taking a break from the surgery day tour [because] it's drain removal day and 2 weeks post-op! That's a big deal so it deserves some big exclamation points," she wrote.

Murphy announced that the video she posted is not for the "faint of heart or weak of stomach," and "maybe don't be eating as you watch this."

Back in February, Murphy, who starred on season 17 of The Bachelor with Sean Lowe, tested positive for the BRCA 2 gene mutation that greatly increases her risk of developing breast cancer. She announced last month that she had made the decision to undergo a preventative double mastectomy, and two weeks ago underwent the surgery at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock, Arkansas.

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After the surgery, Murphy shared that she still couldn't believe her breasts were gone. "My chest was super tight and still is," she wrote on Instagram after the surgery. "There are so many tubes hooked up to me and lots of beeping noises. My boobs are gone. Crazy, right? Gone. It's hard to wrap my head around."

Murphy has since been recovering at home with various check-ups along the way.

Not only is Murphy spreading awareness about the BRCA 2 gene mutation, but she also says she's received a lot of support from strangers going through the same thing and other strangers simply offering kind words.

"It's nice to share in commiserating or laughing with all these people who have come out to support me: complete strangers," she told PEOPLE. "I'm just scrolling through comments the other day and broke down crying because I just was overwhelmed with emotion and the goodness in humanity. This platform brings so much love and support to my life and I think others right now, so I'm definitely in a good place, even after having a body part cut off over a week ago. It's been overwhelmingly positive. It's blown my mind."

My Sunday best, or what I could manage to put on today with limited arm movements.??‍♀️My mom washed and dried my hair today. She dresses me in the mornings. She also measures my drains twice daily which are the tubes you see coming out of my lovely red apron I never take off. She's the freaking best. She slept in my hospital room and bed at home for the first few nights, helping me in and out of bed and giving me meds at horrid hours to control the pain. I have to sleep on my back in the exact same position every night. Sometimes when I make the wrong movements it feels like my chest is detaching from my body, but all in all, I think my upper half is healing nicely! Sure, it's sunken in and lumpy because what you see are deflated expanders that were put in which will gradually get filled every 2-3 weeks as I get ready for reconstructive surgery. Hopefully by then the permanent marker will be off my body?I feel lucky because my surgeons only made one vertical incision on the lower half of both breasts while saving skin & nipple. So while all breast tissue is (hopefully) gone, I retained some of the old me! Happy Sunday. God is good.??? #LesleysBreasties #LesNipsBRCAintheBud #BreastCancerAwareness #FightLikeAGirl

A post shared by Lesley • The Road Les Traveled (@lesleyannemurphy) on

This reality star isn't the only brave woman who has made the decision to forgo her breasts after testing positive for the BRCA 2 gene mutation; click here to read about a Texas woman going through a similar journey.

This article first appeared on Womanista.com

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