Post Op Tummy Tuck question about swelling in legs and butt

Hello!
So I had my Tummy Tuck done 11 days ago.  I'm AMAZED at how good I feel.  But I'm also amazed at how swollen my legs and butt are.  I think it was day 4, maybe 5 that things really started to swell up.  I fully expect to swell in the tummy (all around the incision area), but did not expect my legs and butt to swell up so much and so fast.

Did anyone else have a lot of swelling in the legs (from the knee up the thighs) and butt?  It's not painful, just annoying.  There is some swelling in my belly and that is uncomfortable at times but nothing major (at this point....I hope it doesn't get any worse!).

I did not weigh myself when I first got home (in hindsight I wish I had done so).  Any idea how much all the swelling adds to the scale??  I feel like I must be holding about 15 lbs of fluid/water/swelling....is that unrealistic?

Thanks for your input!

Yep, I swelled up pretty badly in my thighs and butt. My Dr. didn't have me wearing compression garments on my thighs and let me tell you all my pre-op pants were super tight. I could tellthat my swelling went down about 7-8 weeks post op. The same pants I wore to work a few weeks earlier and my thigh felt like they were sausages stuffed in casing a few weeks later were super loose and falling off.

It does get better in time.

Sonya

I came home in a binder......when my surgeons nurse called a few days later I told her I was swelling up in the legs and butt.  I asked if I could use a compression garment with legs that I already have.....she said yes but that I have to wear the binder on top of it.  So I have been doing so for a few days now and I do believe it has helped a little....just a little.  Hopefully it will go down a little more with each passing week.....

On WebMD I read that drinking juice that you boil LEEKS in and also eating the leeks daily helps reduce fluid swelling.  It's something French women do especially when feeling bloated and they have to fit into an outfit in a couple days.....they go on this Leek soup sort of stuff. 

Thanks for your input!

I didnl;t have much swelling in my butt, but had a LOT of swelling in my thighs... much more swelling in my thighs than in my belly, in fact.  It took several months for the swelling to completely subside, although it was sporadic after a while.

Lora

Glad you are doing well!!  I had my TT/Pannic on 7/1.  I didn't hold any water then. Until 3 weeks out, I developed an infection under the pannic incision and landed in the hospital for 4 days.  I came home and weighed myself and I had gained 20 lbs. I lost it in two days though. It was from the IV fluids they were pumping into me. Hard to believe you could gain and lose that much so fast, isn't it? 

I am 5 weeks out and my pants are sooo tight through the thighs. From being a big girl before my first though was I need to loose weight. I usually wear a size 6 I'm rocking a size 8 right now and they are tight through the thighs. Im so glad im not the only one!

I'm almost seven weeks out, and right now I look like I had a thigh ENLARGEMENT instead of circumferential panni-flab-ectomy.  

Apparently, this is normal and goes away!!!

One day, at about four weeks, suddenly I noticed my Special Garment rolling up my thighs to my crotch.  It was because my thighs had expanded beyond the capacity of the garment to contain them.  YIKES!!!

And then .... it subsided.  I have no rational explanation about why it suddenly appeared, or why it went away. 

Apparently, it's magic!