3 weeks and still have drain. Output going up

Stephanie543

Hello All,

I was wondering if anyone has experienced an uptick in output from their drain three weeks after surgery.

MountainMia

I didn't have a drain and am mostly answering so this gets bumped back to the top of the list. But I will say, any time you have questions like this, you should ask your medical team. You likely were given phone numbers to call outside of office/clinic hours. I hope you can get in touch with someone who can either reassure you or point you towards improvement.

Good luck.

Mangosan99

Stephanie,

What surgery did you have?

I had drains for over 3 weeks and the output varied occasionally but didn't trend up. When I went for my second TE fill there was a large pocket of fluid trapped under my expander which really made things confusing.

I second the recommendation to call your surgeon's on-call number. But, also, look at the list of things the drain instructions recommended to watch out for. That might help too.

muska

Stephanie, like the others have said you should speak to your medical team if the drainage is going up.
That being said and assuming you had a mastectomy how long one has to keep the drains varies widely. I had an overall uneventful recovery but my drains stayed for five weeks because drainage wouldn’t stop.

Stephanie543

I had a unilateral mastectomy with 7 lymph node removal. I have IDC stage 1b Grade 2. I meet my oncologist next week and hormone therapy and chemo are recommended.

Just worried about the uptick. And now it’s weekend.

MountainMia

Yes, Stephanie, it's the weekend. There's no reason not to call anyway, if you're concerned! Please don't worry about "bothering" anyone (if you are.) That's their job, to take care of you, including your questions. If it's nothing, that's great! If it's something to be checked for, you'll be taken care of more quickly than waiting for the oncologist appointment.