So, my surgery was on Tuesday. YEAH!!!! And on Thursday I was released to go home. I had emptied my drain around 6 pm and there wasn't much there. However this morning around 4:30 there was a lot more. I'm not sure if that's normal or something to have checked. Do you know how often you're supposed to empty the drain? I thought it was 2 times a day - but maybe it's supposed to be more often?

Any help on the subject would be greatly appreciated!

I did mine 4 times a day and they had me record how much I drained each time.

I was concerned about this.. but as it turns out my dr. says he didn't do a drain for sleeve patients only for the RNY.. so, I am not sure...

Serenity -

You can empty the drain more often if you want to. If you think that you are having more drainage than you were, it wouldn't be a bad idea to measure it and keep track of how much drainage per day you are having so that if you tell the Dr. you are having more, then he understands how much that means. Other things you would want to report are changes in color of the drainage (should be a pinkish-red), and increase in pain or if you are experiencing fever. Whatever the drain takes care of for you is just that much less that your body has to reabsorb when the drains are taken out. Hope that helps.

Does everyone need a drain? What is the purpose of the drain? Sorry for the multiple questions, seems icky.

Yeah... I was told to empty mine every 4 to 6 hours, measure and record. Of course the total each day went down. I was diligent about doing all that. When I went in to have it removed, the NP just looked at the drainage that was in it and said... "yep this can come out," didn't even peek at my carefully kept records. LOL I suppose that would be useful if you thought there was a huge increase, you could accurately tell what the amounts had been for the previous day.

I did find that there was usually more in the morning.

I don't know if everyone needs a drain. Mine was put in because of a revision from band to sleeve. My doc said you could tell if there was a leak that way. How I asked? Eat a purple popsickle and if there's purple in the drainage, you'll know. LOL

Drains used to be used all the time, but not everyone uses them now. It will depend on your surgeon. Drains are put in place to help remove blood or other fluids from your surgical sites. Sometimes after a procedure is done, the organs are rinsed off with saline and that is a way for the extra fluid to drain out from your body. If you did not have a drain, your body would just reabsorb the fluid. They don't actually result in faster healing or prevent infection, but they can remove fluids that might otherwise accumulate and become a source for infection.

Try not to focus too much on whether or not you will have a drain. Your surgeon will choose whatever method he has had good success with. If you do have one, it will probably only be for a few days (I had mine for 2 days) and they are not really uncomfortable, sometimes they pull a little if they are not drained often and then they pull a little when they get full and heavy.

I didn't have a drain - and am very glad about it! But for those who have, it seems most people cope very well.

I had a drain, but they took it out before I was discharged. It made my left shoulder hurt while it was in. The nurse said that was common as the drain "moves things around" inside. The pain went away when the drain came out. I was glad to have it because of the leak test they do with it.

Mu drain was in for over a week. I didn't have any shoulder pain or gas pain. I had both after my lapband without a drain. Have no idea if the drain helped with that or not. It did not hurt coming out.

I put the drain into a small nylon fanny pack around my waist. That was better than pinning it to my clothes as they did in the hospital. I could go out without it being seen. When I showered I attached it to a lanyard around my neck. Wish I could take credit for that idea, but actually my husband dealt with his drains after his tummy tuck that way.