8 weeks since mastectomy and I still have my drainage port.

gyl_wrght

I had a bilateral mastectomy 8 weeks ago and I still have one of my drainage tubes. I'm draining 80 cc's a day of clear yellow fluid. My surgeon says that I am just a slow healer because of my diabetes and he wants to leave it in to avoid any possible conplications. There is no sign of any infection and I'm actually getting used to it. Has anyone ever heard of a tube being left in this long?

By the way, I found I can put the bulb inside my sports bra and it actually helps to even me out (LOL).

dyaneb123

Ha! Good idea about the
Ha! Good idea about the bulb...I didn't have to keep mine too long....hope you can ditch it soon!

carkris

dyaneb123 said:

Ha! Good idea about the
Ha! Good idea about the bulb...I didn't have to keep mine too long....hope you can ditch it soon!

I had one for 3 weeks and
I had one for 3 weeks and still had to be aspirated afterwards. do they tell you to limit your movement? The nurse told me that some people have it for weeks. 80 ml/day is alot. hope it slows down soon. glad you have found a use for it.

DebbyM

dyaneb123 said:

Ha! Good idea about the
Ha! Good idea about the bulb...I didn't have to keep mine too long....hope you can ditch it soon!

That is a long time. The
That is a long time. The drains are horrible. Hope you can have it taken out soon.

Third_Generation

Drain is back in
Hi Gyl,
I saw your other posting and replied to it also. I had double mastectomy on Jan 5 2010, drains out at 2 weeks, drained at dr office 4 times and he just put drains back in last Friday. I see him today and hope they come out as they are just the light weight ones and I have to be so careful with them. With that much drainage a day, leaving the drains in sounds good to me as you don't have to be constantly aspirated at the dr office. I am only draining about 5-10 cc a day but that adds up after awhile as I don't seem to be absorbing it.
I was worried also about having this excess fluid but read so many blogs about others having the same issue that I felt a bit better. I think we all do heal differently. My aunt had my same type of cancer and was only drained one extra time so I was not expecting this. I also think the extra fluid can contribute to extra pain.. but with self massage and compression I only have some discomfort now.
Hope everything goes well for you.