I know that pain is temporary, and that in the end this will all be worth it. I have faith in the surgery and in the plan. But, for those who have been through it, on a scale from 1 to 10 how bad does the surgery and recovery hurt? How long until you felt human again? I have never had any form of surgery besides the removal of my wisdom teeth and so this has me feeling a bit anxious. Thanks in advance for your responses!!!

Can someone explain this "drain" that scares me!

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Can someone explain this "drain" that scares me!

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I am no doctor so can only tell you from my experience. My surgeon put a drain in the incision where my stomach was removed, just under my left breast.

That means that he left a tube in my abdominal cavity running to the outside of my body so fluid/blood etc could run out instead of collecting.

Unfortunately, mine did not prevent a collection which turned into a septic abscess but these things happen.

My surgeon had the drain removed on discharge day and did not stitch this incision so I had an open wound for six weeks, covered by a dressing which I changed daily.

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Does everyone get this drain?!

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I don't know. Everyone I know has had one.

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Expect the worst and hope for the best. No way to know what your experience will be. I can tell you that a positive attitude can change your entire experience for the better. I wish you the best!!!

I had no drains.

Expect the worst and hope for the best. No way to know what your experience will be. I can tell you that a positive attitude can change your entire experience for the better. I wish you the best!!!

It's because of my lovely upbeat attitude that I am still standing. My GP said that I was much more forgiving than she would have been.

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I did not have a drain.

I never had a drain either, or a catheter, or a morphine pump. Every place is different.

Can someone explain this "drain" that scares me!

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I had a drain. It's used to monitor for leaks and internal bleeding. I only had it for a day and a half. It never really bothered me. I actually forgot I had one a few times. It feels weird when they take it out, but it's over in 2 seconds. I had no pain from mine at all!

They empty the drain twice a day. The normal colors are clear, white, and pink (light red). Mine was light red, so every time a nurse would empty it, I'd ask if she wanted some red Kool-Aid, lmao!

Edited August 8, 201610 yr by Hiraeth

I was fortunate in this regard. I haven't had to take any pain meds since I left the hospital. It was uncomfortable more that actually painful.

This is a typical post-op drain. It's basically a tube that has openings along the end and is left in the wound to drain out blood, tissue, and other fluids that can collect. There is a bulb at the end of the tube that applies a tiny bit of suction to the tube to help the Fluid get pulled out, and also collects it. The bulb comes off when you need to empty the collection (but always measure the amount).

Some people experience discomfort, some have flat-out pain, each person's experience is different. Not everyone gets them, I don't know what the surgeon sees that tells him or her when someone needs one. From what I've heard and researched for the sleeve procedure, normally they're taken out before you're discharged home unless there's something a little abnormal going on.

Hope that helps. (Patient education is one of the things I miss most about hands-on nursing.)

I wish my drain had been like that!

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I wish my drain had been like that!

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There's a bunch of different types of drains. I should have specified that this is the one I saw most commonly when I worked ICU here in the US, for abdominal drains. There's reasons to choose each type of drain, including the surgeon's personal experience and preference. The ones I hated the most were Penrose drains because they're "open" as in no collection container, so the dressing changes can be heck.

I read a lot about drains on here so I asked my surgical team about it and they looked at me like I was crazy and said drains were the old way of doing things and that up to date hospitals don't use them anymore.

But so many people on here have had them - they must be more common than that.

They look like a huge PITA so I'm glad I didn't have one.