Okay, so much of that will help answer many of your questions... for the swelling, the more you can elevate and ice, the better. Many of us opted to ice for 40 minutes of each hour and it helps so much..ice is a natural anti-inflammatory and helps to calm down the irritated and ravaged soft tissues. That and walking is about all you really need to do for now.
It does improve.. it just takes time.
I'd love to offer you some other tips for helping your body with the swelling. It's not something that you do once and poof, things are better. But doing them daily can help quite a bit and it's relaxing to do. I tried doing them in the morning and at night before I went to sleep.
Swelling and inflammation is pain, so getting it under control will help.
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Take deep breaths.. deep, as in breathing in to a count of 3 or 4, whatever is best for you. hold it for another count of 3-4, then blow out completely, still using the count that's comfortable for you. A series of at least 6 of these could help get your excess swelling to move. To ensure you are taking proper deep breaths, place your hand on your naval and watch while taking in your breath, if doing this properly you should see your hand move up.
Then, as you slowly breath out, to the same count of either 3, 4 or 5 gently press down and slightly upwards with the palm of your hand.
Do this whenever you feel up to it during the day or night. The more supine that you can get in the recliner or bed, the more effective this can be.. you have lymph nodes located in your groin and sitting up too much can cause a restriction of the lymph flow.
You can, after the breathing, place your hands lightly on your upper thigh, right where the crease is in your groin and lightly stroke upwards towards your naval.
I did this quite a bit post op and while it takes a while for the body to wake up and respond, it will and it will help get things moving.
The reason this can help is because our lymphatic system doesn't use our venous system to help lymph fluids move.. our lymphatic system is a separate system. Our breathing and our physical (muscular) movements keep it flowing.
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I hope all of this information isn't too overwhelming and hope you have a good rest of your day.
