A drain that will not dry up!

since your doc injected an antibiotic, he/she is treating for a likely infection. A lot of drainage can be a sign of infection; I experienced that on one side with a straight to implant surgery. No fever or pain, but the drainage on one side was much worse than the other, and it (along with a red patch on the breast post-surgery) were early indicators of infection, though I did not have pain or fever early on. The antibiotic should have made a difference by now. Since it has not, call and get an appt right away. Ask if they did a culture from the fluid to figure out what type of infection it is--it is usually something in the staph family. If not, get a culture done so the right antibiotic can be used. Report any fever, and if the breast or surrounding area is warm to the touch. This can be serious, don't let them push you off.

Since you still have the drain in place, there should not be much fluid pooling in the surgery area, but the continued big output of fluid in the drain--especially if it is still pretty dark red; it normally lightens in color and quantity during successful healing--usually means infection. Additional draining isn't usually needed since you have a drain taking care of that now, but the right antibiotics are. Assuming that infection is the issue, once the antibiotics are working well, the amount of drainage will start lightening/lessening. I could not tell from your post if the implants were placed; if so, they will likely need to remove the implant on the infected side until the infection is cured; the breast typically can't heal an infection while a foreign body (implant) is present, though your doc may try a procedure that involves removing the implant, bathing it in the right antibiotic and putting it back in. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't (they tried that with me, and though it seemed to work for over a month, the infection returned.)

If the removal "rinse" procedure is not recommended, the doc will likely remove the implant, put you on the right antibiotics, and try the implant surgery again in a few months after you have healed. If this is an infection, the PS will bring in an infectious disease doc since it is important to pinpoint the bacteria causing the problem and make sure the right antibiotics are used, and that your are clear of it before another surgery is attempted. It is sometimes necessary to go on IV antibiotics for a couple of weeks (that was my experience.) I am hoping that your situation is different, but unfortunately infections are very common with reconstruction surgery. Good luck, and take care--this is serious stuff!

I didn't have radiation but I had one breast that drained for 3 weeks after my implants were swapped. His concern If I remember correctly was that the drains would start to impact the shape of my breast. the PS put me on antibiotics just in case and told me to sit down and stop moving around so much. I was really worried. He finally did remove the drain but I don't think it ever went under 30 ml in one day.