I haven't had the same surgery - but I can answer two questions:

1) You wash your hair by leaning forward and using a hand held shower - I could wash my hair easily this way without getting the trach wet.

Other Misc: I was in the hosp for 2 weeks for the first surgery - trach was taken out before I left hospital but it took awhile to close the hole - homecare nurse changed dressings daily. I had a speech pathologist - both times - who taught me how to swallow and eat and then worked on speech for many months, including lists of words, etc, etc.

I have no idea why they call it a "free flap". I thought the name came from the fact that they didn't have to pay anyone for the skin - I gave it - hence "free". I had a graft from my thigh and it healed very well - piece of cake. The graft which went to my tongue was about 3 inches across and 5 inches long.

Hope that helps

Donna