too woozy to search but...swelly belly following LAVH?

i'm still on pain meds (LAVH 9/20/07) and too woozy to search much, but i was wondering if anyone else has had the swelly belly following a lap procedure?

i was expecting some swelling bc it was surgery, but no where near this...i look 6-7m pregnant (per my dh and best friend...i'm ok with that and appreciate their honesty, btw...nothing bad in being told an honest answer to my question.)

i was wondering how long to expect this to last? my recovery is thus far uneventful and calm...no complications at all thus far. the swelly belly is just not something i was prepared to have. i have the tummy pillow and am using a rice pillow (long, narrow muslin inner covered with removable fleece outer, infused with lavender...YUMMY. i make these and used them a lot for menstrual issues...) heated up along the base of my belly.

other suggestions? how long will it last? no fever or complications to note...just curious about the swelling.

thanks!

I had LAVH and kept both ovaries.

I had swelly belly pretty badly for a couple of weeks, and then progressively less swelly belly the 3rd and 4th weeks post op. One of the reasons you have it is because they pump your belly full of air when they do lap surgery.

I found that Gas-X helped, as did Colace and Metamucil. Moving things along your intestinal tract seemed to lessen the effects of the swelly belly.

I had a LAVH in May. The swelly belly was odd, I had it badly for the first few days and then I noticed it more when I did too much. I could feel it swell! I kind of used that as a guage as to how I was doing. I too felt really groggy that first week, I was amazed at how much I could sleep and then still be tired! It does get better though! Good luck!