Drains

[ajvad]

How long do most people have to have the drains in post op? My husband got the surgery done last Friday and the drains are still over 30 cc per day (5th day post op). Is that normal? One drain has brownish fluid in it but the the other one still seems quite red. Any insight would be appreciated.

[Pooz]

My surgeon told me I could remove my drains 2 days early(5 days instead of 7) because I was only drawing 15 cc a day.

If your husband is still drawing 30 cc a day, then it would probably make sense to keep it in till it starts going down.

[ajvad]

Thank you for your response 

He's still drawing over 30cc per day (9th day post op). We have an appointment with the doctor tmrw but I'm not too hopeful of getting the drains out even then I was wondering if the fluid draining out changed color by the fifth day? Right now the fluid collecting in the drains is  so dark its almost purple. Also did you start driving etc, before the drains came out?

[Pooz]

I was driving a day after the surgery. I pretty much had to, though.
I was doing a lot of moving around and lifting with the drains in(probably bad to do), but I had too.

I don't see why driving wouldn't be okay because of drains.

I remember one side being blood red while the other side being a more orange color.

[hatemymoobs]

I still am unsure of why doctors use drains. I've only had 1 consult so far and he kind of chuckled when I asked if he used drains and explained only surgeons who inject a lot of fluid during liposuction use drains. He said he uses very minimal fluid to reduce swelling or something.

What am I missing- what's the point of drains?

[ajvad]

What I have understood from the whole process is that the drains are for draining fluid that causes swelling after surgery. I have no idea if it is because the surgeon used too much fluid for lipo, maybe one of the Doctors on the board could answer that and clear it up for all of us?

I was driving a day after the surgery. I pretty much had to, though.
I was doing a lot of moving around and lifting with the drains in(probably bad to do), but I had too.

I don't see why driving wouldn't be okay because of drains.

I remember one side being blood red while the other side being a more orange color.

He's got one drain out now (yay!) and still isn't driving, but I think thats mainly because I'm around to drive him around lol! He has an appointment tmrw with the Doc to see if the second drain can come out or not. He does have some pain though where the drain crosses over (since the drain wires cross diagonally under skin inside)

[Pooz]

I actually removed the drains myself.(with the doctors approval)

[ajvad]

oh wow! That's pretty gutsy! why did you have to remove the drains by yourself though?

[Pooz]

Because I didn't want to have to fly out to see her just to remove my drains.

[ajvad]

That makes sense. Did you have trouble with bleeding at all once you removed the drains? One of his drains has been removed and it bleeds  constantly (thro the hole for the drain) if the vest is not on. We thought it might clot if he left the vest off for a few hrs and let it dry out in the open air but it doesn't seem to be happening.

[Pooz]

Hmm that's weird. I didn't have much bleeding after taking the drains out.

[ajvad]

So it wasn't bleeding but fluid that was leaking out of the opening in the skin for the drain. He has both drains off now but still has some swelling on one side. the doctor actually squeezed out more fluid (like squeezing a giant pimple, kinda freaked me out) and said it was one way to get the fluid out since it wasn't draining into the drain. Which is what worries me - sometimes he just doesn't seem to have answers to our questions - when we asked him what was leaking out his response was "good question, i wish I knew", its only when we told him it was kinda slimy that he said "oh that must be fat then" . He was voted the best Plastic Surgeon in the Minneapolis-St Paul area and all that so I'm just hoping he knows his stuff. I never really know if he's kidding or being serious.