hi i have been told i have to stay in till drains are out. y when i read on here about people who are allowed home. i hate hospitals fear of people. i will take tranquiliser to get me there. i am trying for a private room etc. so y cant i come home… i am having a mastectomy and recon straight away… thanks Julie
Julie, hugs, I don’t know why you can’t go home with the drains in, maybe, in your area, he district nurses aren’t able to manage them? Or it’s hospital policy? I hope you find a way through this that you can cope with.
hugs
Ruth x x x
it’s down to hospital policy. Some hospitals are happy for you to go home, others aren’t. Some don’t use drains either, some do
I can’t remember my drains going but they were out very quickly in my case.
mole
My daughter came out after 5 days with two drains still in. She too had mastectomy and recon. The hospital provided a little cotton shoulder bag for her to carry them about. She managed perfectly well so i don’t know why your hospital won’t let you out Julie. I assume you will have private room … was under impression that everyone did with this sort of op because of the risk of infection in first few days. She had her drains for 10 days in total, I don’t think they leave them in any longer than that.
Love Sue x
Julie, once your drains get to below 50mills they will remove them, i found that having little walks around and doing the excercises helped mine to drain quicker, but still had to come home with one in, but that came out on the 10th day, hope they let you go home with one in if you feel up to it.
Alisonxxxxxxxx
Julie
I do sympathise, I too had to stay in whilst my drains were insitu - initially planned 5 days stay, but due to a nasty wound infection it turned into an eleven day stay with my last drain only being removed on day 10!
The reason why I was not allowed home was principly due to living in a remote area and requiring nearly an hours drive to the nearest A&E dept/the ward. Even though I am a trained nurse specialising in surgery, I was still not allowed to go home and look after my own drains!!! I guess ti was lucky I did not go home as I would have needed IV antibiotics 3 times a day and drain/wound care for an extended period, at that time my hubby was snowed in bar 4WD access (making it hard enough to visit me), so a D/N could not have got out to see me at home.
Lynn
Hi Julie, please don’t get too upset. I had four drains, two each side (bilateral mastectomy) and after 2 days one each side came off and on the third day they removed the other two. It all depended on the amount draining off. As Alisoncamera wrote, that the amount draining off had to go below 500 ml. As she said, try to move around and that seems to help. I don’t know why some people are allowed home - perhaps it’s as someone said: depends on the hospitals philosophy. I found it a bit surprising and personally would not have liked to be alone at home with them. The drains don’t hurt, they are a just a bit inconvenient and I think it’s easier to deal with them in hospital than at home. But don’t upset yourself, we shall all be mentally holding your hand and you’ll get through it fine. petitepart
Hi Julie,
I was told i couldn’t come home with drains but on day 4 my surgeon came to check on me and said i could. Don’t worry - things may change when are there. Check with your BC nurse to see if you will have to take your own little ‘gift’ bag for drains. My hospital didn’t provide one. Have you had your pre-admittance meeting yet? I said i suffered from claustrophobia and begged to be near a window. In the end I got a private room. It’s worth a try! Good luck. I came home 2 weeks ago and things are really improving - i am glad that’s one thing done. You will be fine. Good luck.
Liane x
Hi all. Thank you all once again for being so kind… I didn’t have a pre op check this time as only had a wle and sentinel node biopsy 4 weeks ago. I am to ring the private clinic tomorrow to see if they have a spare bed for me i think i will try today… it costs about 125 a day but its like a hotel and still use all nhs doctors but you are only allowed if beds are not taken up by private people. iIwas lucky before as it was only one day. I don’t hold out much hope this time as longer stay still we will see. I just want it over with as quick as poss and b back home again in my own surroundings…
Have a nice day all.
xxxxjuliexxxxxxxx
ps i go on 6th DEC…