So swollen - normal?

5 days post radical hysterectomy, I am so swollen 'down there'. Not phased at all by abdominal swelling and bruising but my labia have puffed right up again this evening. Is this normal? Sorry if it's too much information but I feel very distressed by it.

Hey BlackBerry,  

I didn't have the exact same treatment as you but I did have pelvic lymph nodes removed. All I can say is it is normal. I had my op on a Tuesday and ended up in a state calling the nurse on the Friday. I was same as you...didn't care about my tummy being huge...but a massive lopsided area was too far!  I was told it was completely normal. It took me two weeks to reach some sort of normality down there. I still notice a difference from morning to night.

Hope you feel better soon.

Best wishes,

Michelle 

Hi Blackberry 

I definitely recall seeing a couple of posts re this and said it was just post recovery and goes down. I think it's natural for it to be swollen. But if I was you I would call your cns nurse to put your mind at rest xxxx 

I think Tivoli replied to a post re this I might be wrong though but will have a look in a min for you. 

Never tmi here in re in my opinion I hope not as I have talked about all sorts!

I don't have any advice to advice to add here except I too am sure I've read other posts that have described the same symptoms as you that have turned out to be normal. I hope both you ladies are recovering well from your recent operations.

I quite agree never TMI here!!! 

Xx

Thanks ladies. Feeling reassured now. I think I got so worried as the swelling reduced a lot yesterday but was bad last night. But I know swelling does go up and down a lot in the course of a day! I'll probably contact my key worker just to be sure.

Hope you are feeling okay Sarah x

Hey there,

I had a lot of swelling below my incision (I had an open abdominal op) and it was pretty wonky at times. It went up and down a lot during the first few weeks then would swell if I had a particularly active day.

It does all settle down in the end. If it's not too tender then try just massaging the area a bit to try and get some circulation going. That helped me.

 

Jo xx

 

It's completely normal hon....swelling moves down with gravity so it will settle down there unfortunately :( Take it easy and rest with your feet up as much as you can...it'll come and go to varying degrees for a while! Xx

Hi Blackberry :-)

Completely normal and totally terrifying! As far as I recall I became aware of giant puffy labia at about the same time I was told they had removed 'most' of my vagina and was petrified that I now had some dreadful 'frontage' that wasn't actually attached to anything. But great big phew! it all went back to normal soon enough. It really is something that would be so simple to warn you about in advance and avoid such panic. It's a bit like you've been trying to shoplift half-inflated balloons in your knickers! ;-)

Be lucky :-)
Tivoli

PS No such thing as TMI on this site!!

I had the same after my lymphnodes came out - its lymphatic fluid swelling to the damaged area and then getting stuck there.

I looked like the elephant lady! It wasnt pretty and it was so so tender i could hardly sit down. I called my GP out on an emergency appointment and even he looked shocked! He gave me some antibiotic which helped and spoke to the hospital who said it was normal. It is best to check with a medical professional though.

To help it I slept with my pelvis raised with a pillow under my bottom to help the lymphatic fluid flow back towards the heart and massaged myself with soft strokes back up towards the heart.

You will be very happy to hear that it went back completely normal in a few days and there has been no reoccurance.

 

I wish you a speedy recovery. xxx

Goodness, thanks for posting one and all - am prepared for this now, should it happen to me too! Recover well :-)