DRAIN Q---

I had my lovely drain taken out on 11/24/2004. Dr. Scott said that it would drain a little bit more for 3-4 days. Mine is staill draining a little bit. I would say that it is draining the size of the tip of you pinky. Anyone else had this? Also how long did it take to close up? All of my other incisions are all closed up and just look like scratches!!!

I have a question? I am one week post op and my doctor didn't say anything about any draining tubes...does everyone have them with weight loss surgery. I had lap rny and my 3 week post op is on dec 11th...but still nothing mentioned about draining

Not everyone has a drain tube - I didn't. Maybe our size or general health was good enough? I had open Gastric Bypass on 11/15/04.

Well I had my tube taken out that friday before being discharged, and then it just healed up (stoped draining and looks closed) Saturday. So it took 8-9 days for mine. Mine was about an inch long. hope that helps somewhat!

My drain was taken out the third day. It never really kept draining, I had a little ozzing from all my incisions for a few days and now they are all dried up.

I had my sugery on Tuesday and had my drain taken out on Thursday before I was released and after it stopped bleeding it has not drained since. Not everyone has drains, but that is the call of your dr. It doesn't matter about the size or your current health. People (not obese) who have plastic sugery have the drains if the doctors choose. But getting that thing out sure felt gross! Mine was like 12 inches long!

Hi Heather, Your doc decides if you have a drain, and it is used to know what is going on in the abdominal cavity after surgery. If you have a lot of blood, you may be bleeding post-op and need to go back to surgery (I had to), If you have stinky opaque drainage it probably means you have infection, and if there is food/drink you had showing up in it, then you probably have a staple line leak. At our hospital they will sometimes have you drink grape juice and see if it shows up in the drain, if they suspect you have a leak. They are uncomfortable to have, but certainly worth all the trouble in the help they can give the doctors in doing their job and keeping us healthy. Lori