Any ENT surgical nurses?

[CamieKY]

I had to float this week to work for an ENT doctor.  A patient phoned in saying she had swelling of her face that was hard to the touch (3 inches long by 2 inches wide).  She was post parotid gland removal (day 2).    She described it as feeling "heavy" and wanted to know if that was normal.  When I looked in her records, she had an adenoma removed along with the gland and 2 lymph nodes.  She was not having pain but did have some numbness to the area of her earlobe.   Her surgical note mentioned having a large incision due to the size of the adenoma and she said the swelling was in front of the incision (closer to her face) and below it onto her neck (gravity). 

I let the doctor know and he said her swelling was normal for that surgery and that it would peak around 3 weeks and takes a long time to dissipate.

So why was her face swelling around the surgical incision?  Why was this normal?  I understand why she had the localized numbness and why that could be normal, but the hard swelling?  

[offlabel]

Ever see someone that lost a fight in bar? Same principle.