Excessive Drainage

gyl_wrght
gyl_wrght Member Posts: 5
edited March 2014 in Breast Cancer #1
I had a mastectomy on my left side six weeks ago. They removed one of the drainage tubes after two weeks. The other one is still draining and has actually increased in output. I'm seeing my doctor weekly and he says that it is not infected and that I am just a slow healer. I'm wondering if this is really unusual and if there is anything I can do to reduce the drainage. I switched from the post-surgery bra that the doctor gave me to a camisole that is more comfortable. Now I am wondering if I need the compression that the bra was giving me to stop the flow. The doctor told me not to use my left arm so that the flow would slow down. What else can I do?

Comments

  • Rague
    Rague Member Posts: 3,653 Member
    #2
    One of my drrains was taken
    One of my drrains was taken out after 2 weeks but the other was still draining a fair bit after 4 weeks. The Dr took it out anyway as he said he thought that it was irritating was why there was still drainage. I really wish he hadn't as I developed a big seroma that had to be drained. 15 weeks post, it was still showing up as a 5 X 8 cm seroma on the CT scan I had done.

    Good luck. It a nuiscance to deal with the drain but not as much as dealing with the other potentials.
  • Balentine
    Balentine Member Posts: 393
    #3
    Rague said:

    One of my drrains was taken
    One of my drrains was taken out after 2 weeks but the other was still draining a fair bit after 4 weeks. The Dr took it out anyway as he said he thought that it was irritating was why there was still drainage. I really wish he hadn't as I developed a big seroma that had to be drained. 15 weeks post, it was still showing up as a 5 X 8 cm seroma on the CT scan I had done.

    Good luck. It a nuiscance to deal with the drain but not as much as dealing with the other potentials.

    two drains?
    Wow...I only had one drain. Why did they need to put in two drains? My drain came out about 9 days after surgery and I had no other leakage.
    Lorrie
  • Giant Poodles
    Giant Poodles Member Posts: 79
    #4
    Balentine said:

    two drains?
    Wow...I only had one drain. Why did they need to put in two drains? My drain came out about 9 days after surgery and I had no other leakage.
    Lorrie

    drains
    I had a double mastectomy and had four drains. They took two after 3 weeks and the other two about a week later. No problems.

    Rhonda
  • jnl
    jnl Member Posts: 3,869 Member
    #5
    Rague said:

    One of my drrains was taken
    One of my drrains was taken out after 2 weeks but the other was still draining a fair bit after 4 weeks. The Dr took it out anyway as he said he thought that it was irritating was why there was still drainage. I really wish he hadn't as I developed a big seroma that had to be drained. 15 weeks post, it was still showing up as a 5 X 8 cm seroma on the CT scan I had done.

    Good luck. It a nuiscance to deal with the drain but not as much as dealing with the other potentials.

    I had a lumpectomy and
    I had a lumpectomy and didn't have a drain, but, hoping you found some answers.

    Good luck, Leeza
  • Rague
    Rague Member Posts: 3,653 Member
    #6
    Balentine said:

    two drains?
    Wow...I only had one drain. Why did they need to put in two drains? My drain came out about 9 days after surgery and I had no other leakage.
    Lorrie

    No leakage
    I never had any 'leakage' - there wouldn't have been the major build up of serum in the seroma IF it had been leaking.
  • BethInAz
    BethInAz Member Posts: 203 Member
    #7
    Fluid
    I had the BLM in October. Was so eager to have drains removed! Had 1 drain on each side. The one side drained beautifully and slowly decreased in volume. The other side (the BC side) was more of a nuisance. The fluid kept building up around the surgery site and wasn't draining properly. The doctor did some manual massage to push the fluid up to the drain but in time, I just kept getting more fluid buildup. Finally he removed the drain and every 2-3 days would aspirate the fluid. Then it was once a week, than once in two weeks, then finally he determined that the rest would absorb into my body. He said in the 30 years he'd been performing breast surgery, he only had to put in new drains on a patient one time - so I trusted him to know what he was doing! Certainly we all heal differently and healing takes a long time.
    Hope you feel better soon!
    Beth
  • blazytracy
    blazytracy Member Posts: 157
    #8
    Got my Drainage Tube out on Day #26
    I also had a masectomy and I thought my drain would never come out! It ALWAYS had liquid spewing into the bulb! There was a few days when I thought it was going to end and then WHAM, right back into major drainage!

    My surgeon (after I called him cuz I was concerned about the length of time) said to just come in because he thought the drainage was just due to irritation of the tube now! Wow! It never did slow down, just took it out on Day #26!

    When I feel the area now, there is a bit of scar tissue and also a slight scar..but I was never so happy to get it out and yes, it did hurt to get it out...Hang in there! Call your Doc!

    Tracy
  • susanleeann
    susanleeann Member Posts: 58
    #9
    Rague said:

    No leakage
    I never had any 'leakage' - there wouldn't have been the major build up of serum in the seroma IF it had been leaking.

    over a month since surgery
    over a month since surgery and the seroma needs regular drainage by the surgeon. if it would spontaneously drain, maybe the problem would solve itself. but like i said elsewhere, this the least of my problems.
  • ms_independent
    ms_independent Member Posts: 214
    #10
    lots of drainage too
    I also had lots of drainage in my tubes (one per breast). It never really slacked off. My surgeon took them out at 2 weeks. He was worried that they might get infected and felt the tubes might be causing the high vloume drainage. I had no problems with build up of fluid after he removed them. It sounds like I was lucky, so many of these responses show people had issues with fluid build up. Though, the drains were soooo uncomfortable, maybe it feels better to have the fluid aspirated periododically (I have no clue what thats like).
    If the drainage is caused by irritation--I would think the more stable you can keep the tubes then the less irritation. If the compression bra keeps the tubes more immobile then it might help to go back to it. Maybe wear it for a few days and moniter the drainage to see if there is an improvement. If not, you could go back to the comfortable camisole.

    I hope the drainage improves SOON and you can get that miserable tube out!

    Hugs, El
  • Third_Generation
    Third_Generation Member Posts: 121
    #11
    drains and fluid
    Hi
    I had double mastectomy January 5, 2010, 4 drains in for 2 weeks, have been drained 4x at dr office and now have drains just put back in. I also had lots of pain the first two months but massage and compression changed that to just a bit of discomfort. I wondered also about the excess fluid, but my doctor says we are all different in how we heal. I love wearing a camisole since it seems to comfort all those nerve endings.
    I stopped wearing any compression at night to see if that helped and I also stopped exercising to see if that made a difference in the amount of fluid I produced but could not see that it made any difference. Take care of yourself, gyl, and I hope we both stop producing all this fluid soon.

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