Is anyone else still wearing their stupid drain?

Yes, I had to do a second blue dye test at my 7 day check and the blue dye ran into the drain bulb. That's not good apparently. So they sent me for a CAT scan and said they can see the leak. It is very tiny and it is on the back in a "bad" (I guess that means hard-to-operate-on) place.  But they think because it is so small, it will mend on it's own.  Tomorrow is 14 days out.  Let's see if things change.

Right now, I have alot of pain still at the drain site.  It doesn't get better.  I am feeling better though on all the other parts, so I have started to do things like lift laundry baskets on the other hip. Yes, I know, don't overdo it.  But if I feel like I can, why not?

Will update more tomorrow night. Thank you all for being my on-line community of friends. Only you guys really understand. - Lisa

Lisa, girl, I am so sorry! My heart is with you! I only made it 5 days out with that horrid drain, and convinced them to remove mine! I can't even imagine for you! I immediately felt better after mine was removed! You poor baby! I'm thinking about you! It's all worth it in the end!

I didn't have a drain either. My mom said it was one of the 1st things I asked after surgery.
I also didn't have to do a leak test.
Things sure do seem to be getting better each day.

So today he checked me and said I have to be patient and continue to wear this drain.  I told him I hadn't noticed a difference in the amount of fluid in the drain - it doesn't seem to be tapering off. He said that's not the way it works with a leak - it will drain and drain the same way and then one day, a few weeks from now, suddenly there will be nothing in the drain. And that's when they know the leak has healed.  So he hugged me and gave me more pain meds (Tylenol w/codeine so I sleep at night) and reminded me to be patient. He also apologized profusely that this happened to me and when I gave him a Christmas gift, said "Now I feel even worse." He feels very badly that this has happened to me - one of his lowest risk patients. He has done 650 surgeries like this and I am only his 2nd leak he says.

So that's my story. However, I am down 17 lbs!

No, my drain was removed the day I was scheduled to leave the hospital. My friend that had her surgery the day after me, had to wear it for 2 weeks per her surgeon's instructions.

Maybe you are having to wear it for that long because of your leak. I don't know but I would think that it would be best to have the leak repaired while you were in the hospital.

I completely agree with you, but the leak was not discovered, as I previously posted, until 7 days Post-op.  My surgeons (I had a team of 2) said they saw nothing during the op and nothing in the 2 days post op that I was in the hospital.  Plus, they had a team of puppies following them. All those eyes didn't see anything wrong and pronounced my case "textbook".

What can you do? It's not enough for a lawsuit really, yet it's unlucky for me.  But when I read others' accounts about emergency surgery and organ failure, I consider myself pretty lucky after all.  I just wi**** didn't still hurt.  I guess I'll appreciate the tube out all the more in time.