37 Year Old Mother of 4. Lipo of Abdomen and Waist - Wexford, PA

I'm so over being swollen, ugh! I'm almost 3 wks post op. It goes back and forth, some days are worse than others. I went to the gym for the first time on Saturday. It felt great, but running does hurt so I had to resort to a power walk at about 4.5 mph. I wore a compression garment while there too. I was able to lift without problems, just not as heavy as before. I actually missed the gym... I know ???? it's weird but I actually did. I'm going to go again tonight. My stomach was so hard and tight, but I think I can attribute that to a couple days of bad eating, TOM (time of month) came to visit and my eating went to hell. So I went and had my second lymphatic massage yesterday and that helped a great deal, you'll see in the pics my swelling but you also don't see those hardend lumps that were there. She gave me a large hula hoop and advised to do that everyday to help with mobility and to stretch my and. She also highly suggested to start exercising in a pool. The 2 gyms I belong to, neither of them have a pool so it looks like I will be cancelling one, to open another with a pool. The massage yesterday was a little painful because she was working through those hard lumps. But I scheduled another appointment for Monday. I attached pics from the gym on Saturday, the pic immediately following the massage yesterday and from this morning, feeling a lil bloated today. I will be upping my water intake. Any and all suggestions are greatly appreciated.

After searching on Groupon for the last two weeks for a deal for a lymphatic massage, needless to say I didn't find any deals. I went and paid full price today to help with the swelling. It was a little painful at times, but other times I felt myself falling asleep from being so relaxed. Afterwards I swear I pee'd for like 90 seconds after she was done. lol I am scheduling to have another massage next week. She was great, she not only did the massage, she explained in detail how the lymphatic system works and things to do at home that will also help with swelling. She stressed the importance of drinking 2/3rds of your body weight in water, which I have been doing, so that's a plus. She said swimming or water aerobics help, tremendously and when walking do arm circles (while exercising of course, I don't thinks she expects you to walk down the street like that! lol) She also said, to eat healthy, the heavier the food, the harder it is for water to flush the toxins back out of your system. Compression is also very important, she had on a compression garment and has never had plastic surgery and was very thin, she just wears it for a healthy system for a couple hours a day. I will post some updated pics tomorrow. The hardest part is my trunk area, it's so tender, swollen and a little hard, I'm hoping these massages will help that area too. Overall I had a good experience and hope to see results from it soon.

Still feeling sore, but getting better. I had my follow up appointment this morning. Stitches are out. I didn't see the Dr. only the PA, but whatever. She said I'm still pretty swollen and to keep massaging but overall everything looks good. No seroma, so I'm happy about that. She said I can continue to walk but no lifting weights until next week, and to start off slow. I scheduled a lymphatic massage for this Sunday, I'm hoping that helps with the swelling. I got another garment today too, same garment just a little tighter.