Congrats to you Laurie on the "no limping" milestone! It's a wonderful feeling, isn't it? All your hard work paying off!
Jacqueline, I never had hip-to-toe swelling, but did have considerable thigh swelling the first 2 weeks. After that, it was only swollen around my incision (especially below and towards the back). It's nearly gone now at 2 months, but still a little tender. Like Judy described, I got conflicting advice about what to do to reduce the swelling - some said rest and elevate, others said moving about more would work out some of the fluid retention. I never did figure out which helped more - it seemed to be more a matter of time. I did a LOT of icing, but oddly didn't find that had any effect after the first week or two.
My surgeon had me wear the dreaded TED hose for 6 LONG weeks, even though I had low risk factors and was quite active starting around week 3. Man, did those things itch and pinch, and of course, with the hip precautions, you have to have help getting them on, so it's torture for the other person as well. Can't imagine dealing with them during the summertime. But the thought of thrombosis scared me into compliance. I was so happy to be done with them, I wanted to burn them in some celebratory ritual (but instead, just gleefully pitched them in the wastebasket with a maniacal laugh).
Wising you a speedy recovery, Jacqueline.