Foot/Leg Swelling after umbilical hernia surgery advice/help?

Female, 36years old. 4' 11" & 160 pds. Non smoker.

Two weeks ago on January 13th I had umbilical hernia surgery with mesh, done robotically. Everything went just fine with the surgery and hernia site healing in itself, & im very happy with the results. However, I got the surgery on a Monday & on that Friday my feet & legs started swelling. It has now been almost 2 weeks since they started swelling & they're still swollen off and on. Some days are better than others. My legs start to feel tight & that's when I can tell they're swelling again. They're not very swollen- but enough that I notice. it's also pitting edema - I can push my finger into my legs & it leaves an imprint for 5 seconds or so. After resting for a little bit it goes down but shortly after getting up again I start to swell again. I've never had this happen before getting this surgery, so I assumed it was from the surgery. I also notice I don't go to the bathroom as much as I was before the surgery - so it seems I'm retaining fluid for some reason. Well I had my 2 week check up tuesday & I asked the surgeon about why I could be swelling/retaining fluid and if this is normal after hernia surgery and he said it's not related and he's never heard of that happening before. That's not what I expected to hear.. he told me to wait another week & if I'm still swollen to go to my regular doctor and I might have a heart issue. I never had any issue like this before, so now I'm terrified.

I'm wondering if anyone has ever heard of leg/foot swelling after a hernia surgery or if any one has any experience or ideas?

I also don't know if it's worth noting that the first 5 days after surgery I slept sitting up on the couch with my feet down on the ground and didn't elevate my feet/legs at all for those days. I was told that could cause edema combined with the limited activity, but after 2 weeks shouldn't it have reabsorbed by now? I'm still not laying flat - I'm still laying on the couch semi sitting up when I sleep , but my feet are atleast up on the couch so they're not hanging down anymore. Any ideas anyone? :(