So after watching MANY videos and talking to a good amount of people, I am now nervous.

Is it weird or unusual that when I had the VSG done June 11th, that I never had that "drain" tube thing?

I didn't and neither did my other friend who had the surgery with me the same day.

What exactly does the drain do?

It's just weird to me that i'm hearing mostly everyone had the drain tube (sorry idk what exactly its called), and I didn't have that.

Another here who didn't have a drain. I'm not the most patient patient, so was very happy to find out I wouldn't have a drain. Heck, my dr. uses a pain pump and I was so impatient with it that I pulled it out the 2nd day...it felt like I had a ball and chain around my neck, lol.

But I agree, it is just surgeon's choice. To drain or not to drain doesn't make one surgery right or wrong.

i didnt have drain tube either. also, i didn't have a leak test done before i left the hospital. my surgeon did a leak test while i was in the OR - before i was out of surgery.

My surgeon doesn't do drains for VSG, but he does use them sometimes for RNY. Like most things WLS-surgery, it really depends on the surgeon, how he was trained, whether it's a rainy Thursday in November, etc. etc.

No drain tube for me either. My surgeon does a leak test while you're on the table in the OR. He has never had a patient develop a leak. And he's done hundreds of sleeve procedures.

I had a drain tube with an adominal surgery years ago with a mid-line incision. I can tell you that my recovery was so much quicker without the tube and big incision! There is really no comparison. But if your doc is only comfortable using the tube, then you just suck it up and deal with it, right?

My surgeon does 4 leak tests-2 during surgery and 2 after. He's got a zero complication rate, and it probably has something to do with that thoroughness. I'm sure everybody gets by with what they've had just fine, but those 4 leak tests gave me great peace of mind, and it was well worth it to have a drain in for one day.