Drain or no drain???

 I'm stil pre op - wondering why some have drains and some don't.  If you did have one - what was the reason?  How long did you have it and how painful was it or just annoying? 

had one it was more anoying than painful, some drs use them some do not, mine was the cause of my left shoulder pain, it went away when the drain was removed, I had it for a week. no big deal really, good luck to you, Im so glad I took this journey, you will be too.

Actually I don't think it is a per doctor choice.  The reason I say that is that my doctor did not give me a drain and he gave another patient one.  So this is a case where the same doctor gave one patient a drain and not one for me.  

Unfortunately I don't know why some get one and some don't.  Perhaps it has something to do with BMI at surgery time.  I know that I was relatively low and the other person was definitely higher.  But that is only a guess.  

I could spend time making a couple of other guesses but that really doesn't answer your question and would be a waste of your time to read.

The best answer is to ask your surgeon.  I was lucky enough to have my surgeon's email pre-op and would send him a new question as needed.  He would get back to me fairly quickly and that helped me a lot.  

Good luck on your surgery and I wouldn't worry too much about the drain.  

 I had one as well for 2 days post-op.

Some doctors use them, some don't. My understanding is that it depends on your surgeon's technique & preferrences. They're used to drain excess fluid (blood, fluid pumped in during surgery, etc) out of the abdominal cavity. Depending on how the wounds are cleaned & how much fluid is drained at the end of the procedure in the OR (and how much of a bleeder you might be), you may have a lot of drainage or no drainage at all.

I had little to no drainage, but my surgeon kept my drain in until the morning of my discharge. It didn't bother me. I sometimes felt twinging pain in my left shoulder, but this is normal. The drain kind of butts up against a nerve that runs up to the shoulder, and this can cause pain for some patients. It wasn't really all that uncomfortable, or painful. It was just sort of there. It honestly didn't bother me much. I was more concerned with trying to get fluids in amidst all the tummy gurgling, hiccuping and burping. Hiccups were more painful early out than any of my incision sites or the drain. Overall, I had minimal pain/discomfort from either the incisions or the drain, and as far as pain meds go, I was on IV tylenol the first day & night post-op, but didn't need to take anything after that. 

Hope it helps,
Somayeh

I had a drain, my surgeon said it depends on the surgeon's preference, weight of the patient, how much "moving around" he has to do in the abdominal cavity and so on. My drain wasn't too much f a problem, I just had to remember to move it with me when I needed to get up. I had it until I was discharged and it drained quite a bit of fluid away, wasn't pretty but I am glad all of that is out , not in.  Having it removed wasn't sore at all, it was just a slightly strange feeling.

I had a drain it came out before i left the hospital. It was two days.

I had one it was annoying and a little painful when I'd knock it. I only had it in while I was in the hospital. But it had to be empties every few hours so I def needed it lol but it's really nothing to worry about. Just another tube.

 
I had a drain for two days in hospital.  It was annoying more than painful.  And kind of gross but I am sensitive to those kinds of things. 

The weirdest part was when it was removed.  Not painful.  Just weird feeling to have this long hose pulled out of a hole in your skin quickly. 

I did not have a drain, was in the hospital over night and recovered well. It has always been a mystery to me why some do and some don't.

I had a drain. It was removed at my 1 week appointment. It totally squicked me out but I am squeamish. Removal was quick and more uncomfortable than painful. Felt like I was guest starring in Aliens.