How to tell difference between swollen and full?

Day 5 post op and things are better all the time! Sat up in bed with no pain today. Some minimal nausea/gas in the car, but as always, walking fixes everything. The only thing I'm having trouble distinguishing is what is swollen and what is actually full. When I breathe I do get a bit of "pushback", like I can't inhale all the way. Similar to before surgery if I would stuff myself silly and be uncomfortably full. Whenever I drink a fair amount, I can never tell when I'm supposed to be finished. It all feels the same to me. I'm trying really hard to keep up my not puking spree, so I'm overly cautious with my liquid consumption. 

Also, when does the swelling go down to being hardly noticable?

Glad to hear you are out and things are going well. For me the swelling went down in about two weeks. I got feel the difference eating after about 1 1/2 weeks. As far as being hardly noticeable, such as with consumption, that is a tough one. You may feel that weeks out.

Waiting for the full feeling can be misleading. The vets recommend measuring your food and go from there.

 Thank you very much! I can definitely handle this for a couple more weeks if need be. It'll be nice to finally know my limits. Some days I can definitely get in more than 4 ounces in an hour, which worries me sometimes! It's like, uh oh, the next ounce will be the one that comes up!

It varies from day to day sometimes meal to meal but don't fret. Just remember not to drink and eat at the same time--that definitely alllows you to eat more. That and eat slowly because one more bite sometimes make the difference between going down and everything coming back up!

I had improvement in what I thought was swelling at 5 days, 2 weeks, and 4-5 weeks post op.  This is an area where everyone is different.  Every day should get a little easier.

And our nerves can be damaged or tweaked during surgery, so understand that just because you don't feel pressure or pain doesn't mean you're all clear.  This early out, just go slow, push fluids, follow your plan and listen to your body.  Eventually the nerves should come back to normal and you'll feel more stuff that helps you with your signals.

I had no swelling so i was getting in 120ozs of water from the get go.  I was having my full portions of food also.  I'd say go slow and when you feel you've had enough give up on protein that is.  On liquids try to get in as much as you can.