When I was healing from my 2 level micro-d I had swelling (which a towel covered ice pack worked wonderfully) as well as a lump that at first I was already worrying scar tissue but we know how our post-op minds work!

I would of course call your dr but if they did (mine did) say you could use ice, I found those gel ice packs to work wonders, they form to your area you're applying it to as well as they last longer and arent as hard as reg ice packs or ice in itself plus no melting mess at the end.

I remember what you're talking about though. You may be doing too much too as I noticed if I did slightly more than usual mine swelled and felt how you say.

Call the doc, and if he said or the post op papers say you can use ice-covered with a towel as you dont want the area wet, get a gel pack (I had 3 so I could alternate when it really flared up) and rest some with some ice on it.