Hi, I’m 2 days post op from a unilateral mastectomy, SNLB & tissue expander. I’m home now & expecting a call at some point from the community nurse but just wondering how much blood/fluid I should expect to see in the drain? It’s only at 80ml & has hardly increased at all since I was back on the ward in hospital. I thought it would be much more than this? 
x
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Hello. Hope you are recovering ok? I had my op 2 weeks ago and had c50mls per day but they said everyone is different. I had the drain in for a week but if I had had less fluid then I would have been able to have it taken out earlier so worth speaking to your nurse. My recovery was much quicker once the drain was removed.
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Thanks for your reply. I’m feeling sore & bruised today but that’s to be expected. The drain is causing the most discomfort i think & will be glad when that goes. I’m just worried incase there’s a blockage or something as it just doesn’t seem to have increased at all but there doesn’t appear to be any swelling anywhere. I will definitely speak to the community nurse when they call.
Hope your recovery is going well x
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Hey lovely. Hope you are recovering well. I was averaging about 70ml a day which reduced to 50ml 1 week post op. I only changed my drain bottle once which was when I dropped it. It was removed on 1 week post op apt but I do still have a bit of swelling in the area at 3 weeks post op. Not much though xx rest up and take it easy xx
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Just had to check. I was told they could come out when they were under 30ml a day. By day 2 one was 50 and the other 20 so had them both taken out at Day 3. That for me helped the pain die down so much too. Good luck 
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Thank you for the replies. So when I was discharged from hospital, there was 50ml in the bottle. 24 hours later when the district nurse visited me, it had gone up by 40ml to 90ml. She hoped it would be able to come out by the weekend but yesterday, I felt really unwell, really weak & wobbly and in a lot of pain and some swelling around my lat muscle area & my drain output went ballistic. My output went up to 370ml in just over 24 hours & filled the bottle so it was no longer working. District nurse advised I go to A&E which I did last night, utter carnage but they triaged me really quickly & found me a bed. I was later admitted & moved to a ward where I’m still waiting to see one of the breast surgeons.
So I don’t know what’s happening. I’ve been nil by mouth since 2am in case they need to operate which I’m really hoping they don’t. I’ve still got the pain & swelling but I’m on a drip & don’t feel as weak as yesterday.
Just hoping it’s nothing major 
Sorry to hear this but glad you’re being looked after. Hope all is ok
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Thank you. I was discharged last night so I’m back home. My breast surgeon saw me on the ward & thoroughly examined me. She doesn’t think there’s anything to worry about now the drain bottle has been replaced & output is back to a normal rate. What she thinks happened is either the drain was blocked by a clot or something so the blood/fluid was pooling up inside & then it suddenly shifted, causing the rapid flow which filled the bottle & also explains why I was feeling so awful. All my obs are now ok so she was happy to discharge me, thank goodness. I’m back in clinic to have the drain & dressing removed on Tuesday morning. 24 hours in hospital I hadn’t planned on but relieved it’s all resolved x
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So glad you are back home and no further surgery was needed. Been thinking of you! Sending you lots of positive thoughts - rest up lovely xx
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Thank you, sending love to you too xx
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So I was back for my one week post op appointment this morning to have the drain & dressing removed. I was quite apprehensive about the drain coming out & how it would feel. I expected it to be unpleasant but was not expecting what happened!!
The nurse took the drain out & it gushed and gushed! She went from being chatty to really panicked & shaky. I could feel it pouring out & down my side. She told me to apply pressure as she dashed to get help from the senior nurse who then called in my surgeon. They established that it wasn’t pure blood, but blood stained seroma fluid & that it was better coming out so they held a plastic container up to my side as it poured out. Once it eventually slowed down to a trickle, they put fresh gauze & dressing on it. It was a really scary experience & the nurse had never seen it happen before. Sensing their panic was really scary & i felt really ropey for a while after.
So now I’ve just got to keep an eye on things but apart from obvious swellings, are there any other signs or things I should look out for? My chest just feels tight & under my arm is very sore but otherwise I feel better than I did earlier. Just wondering how other people’s experiences with seroma went?