drain or no drain?

I think everyone gets a Barium swallow.  My surgeon always uses a drain and always does a swallow the next morning.  I am pretty sure it is just surgeon preference.  My surgeon is super duper conservative.

I asked the RN, after seeing the surgeon as I "forgot" to ask him. She said not everyone gets a drain and yes it is taken out befor you leave.. thats MY surgeons procedure.

BUT if you are EVER thinking anything might hurt, its good to use the "labor breathing"techniques ANYONE can use..you dont have to have had a baby LOL

You HAVE to relax all muscles..close eyes to focus on something pleasant..breath in then parting your lips..breath out of your mouth S L O W L Y...and release your whole body TO the procedure..I do this at the dentist too. LOL

aaah.. it works, it really does.. you RELEASE to the procedure not tighten UP or you WILL feel the pain.

Good luck folks, Jan

I had a swallow test the next day too, and I had a drain. I think it is just what protocol your surgeon uses, and what he is comfortable with.

No drain for me.

Every surgeon is different in their procedures, ask yours if you will have a drain and for how long. I had a drain for a week after I left the hospital and my PCP removed it as I live 3.5 hours from the surgeon. I was really ready to have it removed after a week. It was annoying me and starting to get uncomfortable. The removal was not great, but once it was out I started to feel so much better.

No Drain and I was told I would have one but everything went perfect cause he said I followed pre op diet perfect

My doc does it for everyone, though he admits it is very cautious... he leves it in for a week!  He says that the risk of leaks is highest in teh first 8 days and if there is a drain in place than you can almost always avoid a second surgery...

For me removal was nothing... hardly even felt it!  My biggest complaint was that my skin got irritated from the tape from the dressings... not too much to complain about!

You get a drain because that's the way the surgeon does it. Or you don't get a drain because the surgeon doesn't use them. You don't get to have a say in the matter. Some use them, some don't. 

i had mine while i stayed in the hospital.....no pain coming out it just felt weird. lot of different reactions from everyone, remember people handle pain differently.

no drain with my sleeve, but i had 3 with my tummy tuck and had them in for 3 weeks...  ugh..  i had a mesh bag that i put them in and pinned them to the binder i had to wear...  i called it my ********  


jeris