JP drain question

When I was discharged on Friday I was given instructions which seemed straight forward.  They have sealed the drain with one of those super sticky clear squares they use.  I asked if I could shower and the nurse said oh sure.  A few minutes later she said that I should make sure not to le****er run all over it so the tape wouldn't come loose.

The paperwork talks about changing the bandage every day.  This seems contrary to what she said becuase I'd have to take their tape off to do that.  Besides they didn't change it in hospital and I was there from Wednesday to Friday.

I am now leaking from the incision point.  I have no fever as such.  I looked at my instructions and it says to seek care immediately if the bandage is soaked in blood or the stitiches have come away.  Neither of which has happened.  It's just leaking.

I really don't want to make a fuss if their is no need.  But I don't know anything about these drains.  I don't want fluid running down my body either.  It's not tons of fluid.

Amyone else have this?

I did. When I called my doctor, he said not to worry, just change the dressing over the square sticky thingy more frequently. For the dressing over the clear square, you will have to use tape- I was given paper tape and square gauze with a slit in it.

I was also told to watch out for signs of infection- smelly discharge.

Call your Dr tomorrow if you are worried- that's what he/she's there for!

Oooh baby, wait until they pull the drain out! Not painful, quick, and the weirdest thing I've ever felt! No way to describe it!

How are you doing otherwise?

Thanks, I'm fine.  I called the after hours service and they told me to change it.  Hospital didn't give me anything for that so I don't have the gauze with the slit.  I feel a lot better now.  I really freaked when I saw I was leaking, it was slightly bloody. 

Not the panicky type usually but this drain freaks me out a little.  Jim went to the pharmacy and jerry rigged some gauze and taped over it.  The incision looks fine other than the leaking.

I am so glad you said this wasn't painful.  Weird I can handle.  It was a little weird pulling the on q pump out this afternoon.  That thing was a foot long -but not sore.

Still need the lortab.  I was quite miserable this afternoon and feel pretty good now.  Even my back isn't so sore but the heating pad will do that for you.

The doc did say to come in first thing.  I guess they will want to look for infection.  Pretty sure I don't have one though.

One weird change with the surgery is I am having issues with my c-pap.  My mouth keeps inexplicably opening where it never did before (at least not while I was asleep)  Going to try a chin strap tonight to see if that works.  It's so unpleasant being jolted awake like you can't breath right.

Glad you are doing as well as can be expected, and that there is no problem with your drain! Hope your CPAP worked out last night.

One of my benefits from WLS- no more sleep apnea!

Hang tough- one day at a time!

I had a little leaking everyday but before I left the hospital they gave me gauze and said just to cut a slit in it and kind of fit it around the tube and just tape it and change it everyday.  I think some leaking is normal.  I'm almost 3 weeks post op now and when I had the drained removed it was definitely a WEIRD feeling, unexplainable!!  But within 2 days of them taking out the drain the hole had closed up and started healing pretty fast.  Good luck to you!!!  I had to take my pain medicine for quite some time at bed time because I would hurt more laying down but that was the only way I could sleep.  I finally feel almost "normal" now!  I've lost 30 lbs so now maybe that I'm feeling almost normal I can get in an exercise routine and stay on track losing.  I'm also a Insulin dependent Diabetic, have been since I was 7 years old and I've already stopped taking two of my medications and my insulin pump is giving me less than half of the insulin I was getting before surgery!  So thru all the pain and discomfort just keep reminding yourself it is worth it!  There were days when I would get down because I would be hurting or had a hard time but I just kept telling myself it would pay off soon!!!  I wish you the best of luck!!

I'm off my metformin.  Glad you have been able to cut back on your insulin.  My drain is out already.  They said as it was causing problems it was better just to remove it even though it's a couple of days early.  I am going to take my lortab for a bit at night.  I'm going to sleep on the recliner tonight because the bed has been miserable for the last few nights and I need a proper sleep.  My husband's Lazyboy is very padded and comfortable.  So I hope for some decent zzz's tongiht.

Some fluid leakage around the drain hole is totally common. You could cut gauze squares to fit around the drain, but it's easier, if you have easy access to a medical supplies place, to just get some precut stuff. The folks there will understand exactly what you need when you tell them you're managing a JP drain and changing dressings.

Do you understand how to empty the drain? You unplug it, squeeze to empty the fluid, then close it again while it is still kind of squeezed. This creates a little suction to encourage fluid to come out into the drain reservoir rather than just to sit around or to leak out wherever.

The fluid is completely normal and harmless. It will be light yellow or light pink and basically clear. It's called serous fluid, I believe.

A little dab of blood would be normal, too. The stitches pull and you get little bits of blood because of the irritation and wound stress. That means they pull a LITTLE, and not that they come loose. Yes, soaked bandage in blood is not okay. CALL RIGHT AWAY FOR THAT. Or just head to the ER.

I need to put medical supply place on my mental map because I go to the pharmacy and they don't always have what you need.  They did a good job of showing me how to empty the drain so that wasn't a problem.

I think I was a bit stressed because I read about some horror story on here last week.  She had infections and they were re stitching her without numbing her properly or something.

Anyway, I changed the dressing and went in this morning.  I was delighted that they decided to just take it out.  My night dress was soaked on the side this morning.  We had a laugh because she "milked" me as I had a fair bit of fluid.  I should be able to take the bandage off tomorrow and be done with it.  Kind of glad to get it over and done with.

You know the funny thing?  When she took it out, I didn't feel her doing it.  I wasn't expecting pain but she said it would be weird. 

Now if I can get to one of those medical supply places for a chin strap for my c-pap I should be good to go.  I never needed one before but now suddenly I do and it's really messing me up at night.

 They told me my patch was water proof and that I didn't have to change it.  Well, when I went for my one week check up and to get the drain out~~My doctor was MAD!!!!  It was very pink and he said they do this all the time and he was furious. He told me to keep an eye on it and keep it dry and use bactrim.  It took a couple of weeks to heal, but it did.  That feels really freaky when they take it out.....but is not painful.  Glad you called.  They never changed mine either and I showered while in the hospital. I got the paperwork from the hospital to rate my stay....needless to say I didn't have a whole lot of nice things to say.  My doctor is not very happy about how they re treating his patients.

It really stinks when you don't get good aftercare like that and it's not the doctors fault.  Lucky for me I went in to the office and they took mine out.  I didn't feel it at all coming out!  No freaky, nothing.  I'm sorry it took so long for yours to heal.  I've got lucky.

I didn't get paperwork, I got a message up on the room tv.  It told me to use the keyboard to rate my experience.- except I couldn't find the keyboard.  Maybe they hid it!  Most of the nurses were fine with me exceot one.  She forgot to give my pain medication but wanted me up and walking.  She kept minimizing everything.  She found out my temp was going up and she said that it would go down when I started moving.  I had been moving, but not as much as I should be because I had a massive migraine on top of surgery pain!

The kindest sweetest person there was one of the cleaners, Maria.  She helped me in the hall when she saw I needed to have the gown on my back tied or it would have fallen and that would not have been pretty.  She tied it for me and just touched my arm.  She made me feel so much better.  And I did tell the rep that came around the next day about her.