Liposuction of saddlebags and flanks

This procedure involved liposuction of outer thighs and lower back. 1600 ml (just over 1.5 kg, or 3.5 lbs) of fat was sucked out of these areas. I didn't feel much on the day of surgery (which also included a breast lift), but it was clear that I lost quite a bit of blood as a result of it: my skin colour turned to yellow wax, my heart rate was way higher than normal, and any effort just increased it. I felt OK the morning after, so I thought, well, if it's as easy as this, I'll just go to work then. And I did. By the end of the day I could hardly move: my upper legs were swollen hard, my flanks were swollen and numb, and moving my legs to walk was, um, let's just say, interesting. Not the kind of interesting I'd recommend to anyone. On the 2nd post op day the swelling was even worse: hard, elephantine legs, thick swollen knees and upper calves, ugh. I peeked under the compression garment and what I saw horrified me a bit: very heavy black bruising all over my back and side thighs going nearly down to my knees. And, a lot of pain. I had NO idea lipo would be this horrific or this painful.

Day 4 post-op: if anything, feeling worse. Definitely looking worse! Bruising is increasing: moved down my legs to my knees and calves, and around from the flanks to the front and into my groin. I look like I've been worked over by a sadistic mob enforcer. The swelling on my lower back has created a very odd "love handle" there. And, along with the bruising, the pain is spreading too: everywhere there's visible bruising, the body hurts, even down the fronts and sides of my calves all the way to my ankles, which themselves are swollen hard. I can't function without the pain killers, and I must take them regularly otherwise I can't function at all. Prolonged sitting leads to stiffness. And walking? well, I can feel every step, and every step feels like I'm carrying a thousand pound weight tied each foot.
It-will-get-better. Question is, when?

Today is 11 days post-op. From the waist down, I STILL look like I've been worked over by a mob enforcer; still swollen from the waist all the way down to my ankles, still bruised, still in pain, and still dosing myself with painkillers regularly. Yesterday, along with the over-the-counter stuff, I took - again! - two dilaudin (hydromorphone) tabs, just to help me sleep through the night. Today, I'm abandoning ibuprofen, but will continue with Tylenol 3: it's high strength acetaminophen with codeine. Though, thanks to the Dr-prescribed iron pills, I'm feeling a bit stronger and able to walk a bit more briskly, it's still a case of Every-Step-Hurts. What a crybaby, eh?
No, actually I'm not. it's been life as usual ever since post-op day 1 here chez Tiny Tina, and I've been functioning so normally both at home and at work that no one is the wiser. But I look (which is secondary) and feel very far from normal. My legs are swollen, my thighs are hard, and the bruising hurts everywhere: down my calves and all the way to my ankles, where the lipo cannula never reached.
Since about PO day 3, I've been taking hot baths and massaging my hard, swollen lower limbs in an effort to mobilize all the unwelcome fluids, and along with them, the bruising and pain. But the bruising isn't budging. Still bright red, perhaps with a little undertone of green and yellow around some of the edges. At this point, I [almost] don't care about the visible bruising [well, of course I do but]: I'd be willing to wear slacks/jeans/leggings/opaque tights till next year, if only the swelling and pain would [please!] go away.
I've been wearing my knees-to-chest-compression-garment religiously. It sure creates a peculiar waistline! So yesterday, for a bit of a change, I swapped it for a tight knee-to-chest spanx size S - it's just as tight as the compression girdle, but much smoother, no thick zippers on each side!
I weighed and measured myself today. The procedure added about 7 lbs of fluids to my body on PO2, but by today about 2-3 lbs of that have disappeared. My waistline, 27" after the procedure, is back down to 25". My hips - the whole point of the so-far-awful exercise - are unchanged from pre-op, at 38".
I'm looking forward to feeling sufficiently normal (read: painless) to be able to return to some, even a little, exercise.
The photos are from a couple of days ago, post-op day 9.