My doctor has been perfect with post op exams & answers but I feel that I shouldn't be calling with every little concern. I am happy to have found this forum & have had many questions aswered by reading these posts. I explained my (I think) extremely sensitive skin as feeling "scraped" & the doctor said that description was a new one to him. Of coarse there is a numbness, that is tolerable, but this raw skin feeling is driving me crazy. I even cut up a soft t shirt & placed it under my binder but it seems anything that comes in contact with my skin irritates it. Is this normal & is there anything to do about it & how long will it last? Also, after my drains were removed I seem to have fluid retension. Yesterday the doctor tried to extract it with a syringe to no avail. Today the puffiness seems to be more & also some fluid in my upper abdominal area also. It is not extreme but I need to know if it will disipate by itself or does it need to be removed. Will the fluid cause my recovery to be slower? I am going on a cruise in 7 weeks (10 weeks post op) I need to be in shape by then. need I be concerned now that I am retaining this fluid that I won't be healed enough?