Question:
My abdomen area is still so swollen after 8 weeks...is this normal???

It is hard..like when i was pregnant...which i am not! When i cough or have gas it gets much worse...I am down 40 pounds in 8 weeks and seemed to have lost everywhere except my abdomen area. I am talking of the area around my belly button. Inchwise...I have not lost anything in this area at all...Is this normal??? I am worried that something is wrong but I live too far away from my surgeon..he is in Florida, I am in Maryland! Thanks for any help! Please write me at [email protected].    — MARLENE M. (posted on May 31, 2001)

May 31, 2001
Hi, I don't really have an answer for you but wanted to let you know you are not alone! My tummy too is WAY hard from the belly button up to my boobs! Especialy when I stand up. I posted the question a couple of weeks ago and someone thought it might be scar tissue. I do have a hernia right at my belly button so I'm sure that doesn't help. Could you have a hernia? I also feel pregant at times! I could probably go down 2 sizes if my waist would go down. My sugeon is 8 hrs. away but I will go see my local DR. soon. I had open RNY Jan 11, 2001. 4 1/2 months out and down 85 lbs. Yahoooooo!
   — Deb H.

May 31, 2001
You don't say much about where your "swelling" is, but I had a lot of swelling, pretty much verticle along the incision line, and then out about 3-4 inches on each side. I too thought I was loosing weight everywhere but my stomach, which I know wasn't actually true because I could get in smaller pants, but that area seemed so swollen that I didn't ever think it was going to go away. I remember discussing it with my Dr at about 4 months post-op. I'm not sure when it went away, but it has...not that I don't still have plenty of stomach to loose, that seems to be the area that I'm loosing in the slowest, but it was probably the area where I had the most fat in the first place. Anyway, I don't really have an answer for you, but thought I would share my experience. I am now 7 1/2 months postop and down 87lbs.
   — tlg6056