Even though my surgical drains have been out for over a month post-tummy tuck, I've been meaning to blog about them. Going into the surgery, I only had a vague idea about what the drains looked like or felt like.
When you take your first trip to the powder room post-surgery, you'll notice two tubes coming right out of your flesh in the upper pubic area. A woman I met who underwent a lower body lift mentioned that she had four drains after her surgery. Good Lord. Anyway, your 1/4" diameter tubes will be stitched in. Mine had about 18" of tubing that led to the drain, a large, clear soft plastic bulb (water balloon size). The bulbs have a valve at the top for emptying, and they will be safety-pinned to your binder. The safety pins prevent the heavy bulbs from pulling downward and yanking on your stitches.
With the tubes and bulbs, you will look like something out of Dr. Frankenstein's lab. Not surprisingly, the tubing hurts. After the first few days, when my painkiller started to wear off, it was the tubing sites that gave a nagging pain. Every time you move or shift, your body says, "Hey, there are a couple of holes that aren't supposed to be here and I don't like it!"
Draining the bulbs is easy, once you get over the initial shock of seeing bright red fluid in there. I emptied both bulbs into a plastic cup, and then dumped the contents in the toilet. When the bulbs are empty, you squeeze any air out of them and cap them off. This puts a little suction on the surgical site to help pull fluid out of you. The marks on the bulb read 100 mL, 75 mL, 50 mL, 25 mL. The first night, over 100 mL drained into the two bulbs. A week later, I was draining about 40 mL for a whole day.
At my one week appointment, the surgeon looked at my 'drain log', and said the fluid level was low enough that the drains could come out. Oh, Happy Day! She got her equipment ready, and I grabbed my husband's hand. The doc snipped the sutures holding in the tubes (OW), and then pulled out a good six inches of tubing from inside my body cavity (what a weird feeling). Then she did the second one. By all means, have someone's hand to hold during this procedure.
I was on top of the world after the drains came out. I kept saying that I couldn't believe it. The pain went down a whole bunch, and I was able to stop the pain medication the next day. The little holes leaked fluid for 24 hours. I was tempted to try a Depends, but I opted to stick a maxi pad horizontally at the top of my underwear. By the next morning, the leaking had stopped.
My surgeon recommended no shower until 24 hours after the drains were removed. I was scared to death, but I sure needed a shower. My hubby helped me get out of my clothes--it was the first time we had both seen my entire body after the surgery, and we were a little shocked. I feared passing out or falling. At the end of it though, I have to admit it was one of the five best showers of my life. Clean, and in fresh clothes, I plopped on that recliner and napped for hours. Ahh, you always remember your first shower.
All in all, the drains are awful but necessary. They do come out pretty soon. And it's absolutely glorious when they do.
Take care!
