Had some questions on recovery after op 4/14/05

[beigedickies]

Hey guys, I'm new here so I'll fill you in on my stats and operation.

Okay so I'm 18, 5'11 and 171 lbs and I had my surgery done in Koreatown in LA under local anaesthesia and I was awake during the operation.  After the operation my doc told me that when he tried to do lipo he realized that there was virtually no fat.  My gyne was just straight up gland or whatever that hard mass is.  The mass was huge too and the amount he took out of my right chest looked about the size of 3/4 of my palm (I have moderately big hands).  Maybe i'm exagerrating but it sure wasn't no dime/quarter sized midget.   Anyways, my left side wasn't as severe.  I actually felt some pain during the op and the doc told me the cause was a stretched/pulled nerve.

I was prescribed an antibiotic cephalexin and a painkiller acetaminophen with codeine.  I'm not wearing a compression vest but I don't have an ace bandage on either.  It's this weird velcro type thing that wraps around my chest.  I don't really know how much compression you're supposed to have but it feels pretty snug.

So question #1 is can someone tell me exactly what the compression does and how much compression I should be feeling?  And the complications that could occur if I don't keep the compression thing on?

Moving on, what should I do for recovery?  Should I just lie down all day or can I sit up (cuz I like to play computer games).  Should I sit with my back straight (which stretches the compressoin thing and sorta brings out my chest but not flexes)?  

What I did on the day of the operation was go straight to sleep.  The next day I woke up and sat up and walked around a bit using the comp or doing nothing at home.  On the day after that I pretty much did the same, did not lie on my back at all, but in the evening I actually went out with my friends to eat.  I drove but after a while I felt really really nauseated.  My chest started feeling hot but not in a painful way.  I felt like my left chest was swollen but I couldn't really tell.  I had a friend drive me back home and I just went straight to sleep.  When I woke up which was like 1 hour ago I could've sworn I had just a dash more blood on the gauze pads over my stitches but I can't really tell.... is that normal (for some blood or whatever come out of the stitches onto the gauze?)

I also didn't sleep on my back... sorta on my side a couple times (i move around a lot on my bed)  The first night I slept on my back, the next 2 not really.  Should I just sleep on my back?  

Yea so in general what precautions should I take in my recovery?  Or what should I do in my recovery?  

Can I cause permanent damage by not doing something simple like... sleeping on my back?

Also I go back to school tomorrow...(I was on spring break)

If you guys could please answer all those questions (questions in the paragraphs too) that'll be great.

[shaggy-dude]

Compression vest is suppossed to squeeze the the tissues where you've been lipo'd, imagine hundreds of little tunnels through the fat as they don't normally get every ounce out of there but more like the bulk of it, then the vest is to squash those tunnels flat so they aren't filled with blood/scartissue from what I understand.

the compression should be quite tight but not so tight you can't move properly ..

Blood shouldn't be oozing out more than a day or so after closure I don't think anyway.

Sleeping on your back shoudn't cause a problem, I broke my neck 18 years ago and have slept on it 85% of the time since, only reverting to my side's occasionally.