leela16 Posted July 28, 2014 Posted July 28, 2014 Don't worry, swelling at 8 days post-op is more than normal. You will be experiencing swelling for months on and off but it is worst the first 2 weeks. I am 18 days post-op and now only my feet get swollen when i walk a lot during the day. Put some cold wet towels around your feet at night and keep them elevated as much as you can. Drink heaps of water and chill. Time will do the rest.
leela16 Posted July 28, 2014 Posted July 28, 2014 My legs were the most swollen between day 4 and Day 10 post-op. The swelling will lessen as the days go on. Don't insist on walking too much when the swelling worsens. Rest.
leela16 Posted July 28, 2014 Posted July 28, 2014 Yes, the itching is normal. It is a sign your skin tissue is healing.
plasticsecret Posted July 29, 2014 Posted July 29, 2014 Yes I can do squats and basically resume my exercise regimes but I am not able to crouch or sit on my knees (with back of thighs touching back of the calves?) Not sure if I'm explaining right here...lol I guess I'll just have to ask Dr. Park about this. As for the scarring, I actually couldn't see the scar in the first 2 months because the skin around the area were very bruised. Then as the pigments start to fade a bit, I noticed the very dark incision scar Have been applying scarring gels but I don't see a very visible difference yet
plasticsecret Posted July 29, 2014 Posted July 29, 2014 Oh no Have you been using any scarring creams or tapes? I was okay with having an incision scar but I didn't know the whole area would still be this dark after so many months!
icecoffee Posted July 29, 2014 Posted July 29, 2014 Yes I'm more concern about the scars but it is too early for me to apply cream. I bought kelo-cote yesterday and I might start applying after 2 and half months post op.
icecoffee Posted July 29, 2014 Posted July 29, 2014 Interesting. I will try when I get home to see if I can kneel down and I will let you know later.
icecoffee Posted July 29, 2014 Posted July 29, 2014 You are right Plasticsecret. It is hard to kneel down. I can but I did it real slow and it was really tight and a little painful. Another thing to worry about. This is a long hard road of recovery.
plasticsecret Posted July 30, 2014 Posted July 30, 2014 I asked Dr. Park and he said the muscles taken were far away from the knees so it shouldn't be the cause of the pain. He said it might be because the calves are still swollen and said to give it more time to heal. You're right, the healing process is a long and tough. Just wondering, have you tried sitting down with your knees on the ground (Japanese style)? It was one of the poses I had to do in yoga the other day and I found my knees really uncomfortable
icecoffee Posted July 30, 2014 Posted July 30, 2014 Yes, that's the one I tried and it was hard and took a while to be able to sit properly and it hurts a bit. Normal kneel is ok for me but not the Japanese/yoga style.
scaredsilly Posted July 30, 2014 Posted July 30, 2014 Hi. My recovery has been slow and difficult. Jury is still out on whether i did the right thing. But i dont want to discourage anyone cuz most people do really well it seems.
babyangel11 Posted July 31, 2014 Posted July 31, 2014 Hi Scaredsilly What's your pre and post op measurements like? Im past 4 months post op n coming to 5 months soon n still not recovered yet. My calf sizes fluctuate widely once i dont bandage.
leela16 Posted August 1, 2014 Posted August 1, 2014 Hi everyone, Just wanted to update on the aspiration that i have been doing at home by myself. Dr Park taught me while in Seoul and asked me to do it once a week at home. The sight of it seems impressing (inserting a 3cm needle straight into the calf) but it is not painful at all (feel like a sting). So, first one was yesterday and I only extracted less than 1ml for both calves. Wondering if I am inserting the needle in the right place. Anyone else has been doing that at home too and can share the experience? Otherwise, I am regaining more and more flexibility by the day and can walk ok now. Not back to 100% normal though. I am planning on going back to tennis early september, i'll take it easy of course. Overall happy.
icecoffee Posted August 1, 2014 Posted August 1, 2014 Hi Leela I did it myself too and I took out 49ml first time, 6ml second time and 9ml yesterday. What's your last aspiration at the clinic? 1ml sounds like nothing at all and u might have done it wrong. Did u try to pull the needle in and out slowly?
scaredsilly Posted August 1, 2014 Posted August 1, 2014 Hi babyangel11 To b honest i havent measured at all since surgery. My preop was abiut 34.5. Goal was 32. I have this severe hump on one of my lower calf... Not swelling. Its hard as a rock. My legs look really deformed so i try not to look at them... Just concentrating on compressing and stretching. Its all i can do to keep myself mentally sane. If the hump doesnt resolve not sure what i would do. Currently my legs look way worse than before surgery. I think it takes abiut a year to stabilize the size from what i hear... Which i knew going into this. But the significant disruption from daily living... I did not anticipate. All the positive encouragements from people from this site has been life saving. Ladies u know who u r... Who else can we talk sbout this with right? So keep compressing and stretching... And hope for stabilization by one year. At least u dont have to aspirate any more right? Lol.
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