THE DRAIN IS A PAIN

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haynan
haynan Member Posts: 2
edited March 2014 in Breast Cancer #1
I had a mastectomy on 3.4.08. Three weeks later, I am still draining at the rate of 60 to 70 ml....The surgeon says it has to drop to 30 before I get it out. Has anyone else had the problem? Is there anything I can do to reduce the drainage (surgeon said nope, just time). I will be doing chemo and Herceptin. I would be interested in hearing people experience with the Herceptin.

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  • survivor51
    survivor51 Member Posts: 276
    #2
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    I hope all else is going well. It took about 4 weeks for me and I had 4 drains. They dide a bilateral and reconstruction at the same time. It did start to get clearer in color and slowly drained less and less. I'm glad to hear that it is draining out and not remaining in your body. The reason they have to wait for the 30 is because if it drains much inside, they have to use a needle to drain it. That is not fun. I odn't know if you have 1 or more drains but I did find that I used a baby diaper pin to pin it to the inside of my camosole. To shower so I did not have to hold them, I got a long shoe string and put it through the holder in the drain and then hug it around my neck. It freed up both my hand and I had a much better shower. I know it is a pain to deal with but think of it as better out than in. It does get better. Angela
  • ohilly
    ohilly Member Posts: 441
    #3
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    I can definitely relate to you on this one! I had a mastectomy on Feb. 21. I had two drains, one of which accidentally was snapped off. After that they started aspirating me with a needle because of fluid-build-up. I did not find this painful, but it just didn't help: the fluid kept on building up and this past Tuesday I had another operation to re-attach the drain. The surgeon said the draining will go more quickly now with the drain re-attached. My surgeon said I would have to be one in a million for the draining never to stop, and he estimated that my new drain will be removed between three and six weeks. Like you, I feel out of control with this draining, but am trying to have faith in what my surgeon told me. I'm a little concerned that I was told I cannot start chemo until the draining stops. Anyway, I share your concern and hope it goes away soon for both of us. Ohilly
  • seof
    seof Member Posts: 819 Member
    #4
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    I had 4 drains. They came out 1 by one, but I think it took about 6-8 weeks for all 4 to be gone. I had to wait till each one got below 30cc before it could be removed. I bought a camisole with pockets designed for post-surgery. I got one from the ACS catalog and my Sister-in-law got another one for me from the hospital gift shop. They are very useful! I agree that it helps to think "better out than in". I was on Herceptin with Taxol from May-Nov. 2007, surgery in Dec. I lost my hair, had some tingling in toes and fingers, had some toenails coming loose (did not come off), had chemo induced menopause (no period, cold and hot flashes, mild moodiness), and some tiredness, but continued to work full time.

    Be patient and remember that you are a cancer survivor...life is different, but you are still living. Give yourself time.

    Take care, seof
  • cowan001
    cowan001 Member Posts: 3
    #5
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    Haynan,
    I am 30 yrs old and had a bi lat mast in december. I had 4 drains and managed to get all of them out in 4 weeks. There is no way to speed up the process, but when I started to drink a lot of water I felt better and drained less...it might not be connected at all, but it is what I noticed.

    I am more than halfway through my chemo now and had adrimicyn,taxol, and herceptin. Adri was the worst by far! It is over and the worst I can say about the taxol/herceptin mixture is that it makes my skin extreamly sensitive (sun burn easily, blister easily, rashes and cuts) it sounds worse than it is. If you wear sunscreen and take good care of your skin, you will be fine.

    I hope you get your drains out soon!

    Margee
    (cowan001)
  • 3cbrca
    3cbrca Member Posts: 206
    #6
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    The drains and fluid problems are definitely a pain. I had mine out two weeks after surgery, but was having seromas drained until I had had my drain put back in 10 months afer surgery. There are just some people like us who have all this fluid. My doctor is around 60 and he has tried every none and experimental treatment and it still boils down to time for the body to begin to absorb the fluid. In retrospect I wish they had left the drains in longer, but I know I would have been screaming to have them taken out if they had. I know they're awful but it does eventually get better.
    Sheilah
  • 3cbrca
    3cbrca Member Posts: 206
    #7
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    The drains and fluid problems are definitely a pain. I had mine out two weeks after surgery, but was having seromas drained until I had had my drain put back in 10 months afer surgery. There are just some people like us who have all this fluid. My doctor is around 60 and he has tried every none and experimental treatment and it still boils down to time for the body to begin to absorb the fluid. In retrospect I wish they had left the drains in longer, but I know I would have been screaming to have them taken out if they had. I know they're awful but it does eventually get better.
    Sheilah
  • cabbott
    cabbott Member Posts: 1,039 Member
    #8
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    survivor51 said:

    I hope all else is going well. It took about 4 weeks for me and I had 4 drains. They dide a bilateral and reconstruction at the same time. It did start to get clearer in color and slowly drained less and less. I'm glad to hear that it is draining out and not remaining in your body. The reason they have to wait for the 30 is because if it drains much inside, they have to use a needle to drain it. That is not fun. I odn't know if you have 1 or more drains but I did find that I used a baby diaper pin to pin it to the inside of my camosole. To shower so I did not have to hold them, I got a long shoe string and put it through the holder in the drain and then hug it around my neck. It freed up both my hand and I had a much better shower. I know it is a pain to deal with but think of it as better out than in. It does get better. Angela

    What cool ideas! I had a bra with velcro'd pockets for the drain while I was dressed, but I had no idea what to do for showering. I convinced my husband to take a piece of stiff wire about a yard long and make a hook on each end. I would hang the wire from the shower rod and put my drain on the end of that, but it was a problem when I moved too far away to reach the soap or whatever. A shoelace would have worked much better!

    By the way, when you do finish draining, know that it does not hurt when they remove the drain under the mastectomy. It felt like butterfly wings flapping under my skin. Apparently not all drains remove so painlessly. When I had a thoracic drain removed, I was most unpleasantly surprised! But breast drains aren't supposed to hurt and mine certainly didn't.

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