Anyone come home with a drain?

[Seahawkgirl 129]

I swear the drain is the worst part of this whole experience. I was sleeved 10/12 and my surgeon felt like he needed to leave a drain for the next week until I see him a week from today. It's the thing that is giving me the most pain, otherwise I think I would only be on tylenol now.

Anyway. just wanted to check and see if others have dealt with this and if there are any good tricks to making it bearable!

[Elode 8,093]

Yes I did!!! I also pulled that aggravation out on day 3 of being home. It stopped working so bye!! I couldn't take it any longer!!! I felt 100x better after that. @@Seahawkgirl

[Elode 8,093]

Disclaimer: DO NOT pull your own drain out. I'm medically certified to do so, I'm also horrible at following rules that make me hurt, therefor I made myself comfortable. My surgeon was not "thrilled" with me for doing so but he had no choice but to be stern, laugh, and then made me "promise" to cut that self care crap out! I told him he's just lucky I didn't have a staple removing kit because I would have taken those out too!! Itchy mess! I just needed him to do the surgery because I couldn't very well do it passed out. Once that was over I no longer needed his assistance. He pretty much told me to be quiet and set up my next appointment. Ha! That's the kind of relationship we have."Are you going to be compliant or not?!" " Well that depends buddy are you going to quit making my life miserable?!"

[The Candidate 3,215]

I didn't take it home with me, but I had one for the four days I was in the hospital. Although I didn't have much pain after surgery, 99% of the pain I did have was alleviated by its removal. Hopefully you will feel much better too, once it's out. Good luck!

[Seahawkgirl 129]

@@Elode Hilarious! I don't think I'm brave enough to pull it myself but I do think I will call and see if I can get it taken out earlier than next Wednesday. I'd hoped to go back to work on Monday, but not looking forward to managing that with a drain!

@ thank you!

[Elode 8,093]

@@Seahawkgirl You can always ask. Most protocols say to have 30cc or less drainage in a 24 hr period to have them removed. That's completely up to your surgeons discretion though. Mine had stopped draining and had black clots formed in the line. It was time to go and my surgeon's office was closed (Sunday) so I called the on call and told him my situation and that I was going to pull it. He said he couldn't "tell me to do it " and that he had to tell me to wait until Monday to ask if it was ok to pull it myself. I already knew that would be the answer I'd get so I said ok. I will "tell" them tomorrow that it's gone! Hung up the phone, got a sterile dressing, snipped the stitch and out she came. I've pulled many drains, I worked maternity for 7 years and quit a few of our DRs put them in our c-section patients.