drains quesetion

hi im sure this has been answered before and i know everyones different.i had surgery on august 11th,2010.and i still ahve my drains.i went in for my one week check up on tuesday.and they want me to keep them in for longer.until they are draining no more then 20 ml in a 24 hour period.the drains are still draining about 30 ml each day.they said that since i had 17 pounds removed from my stomach they want to leave them in until at least 20ml.so my question is;anyone has had 17 pounds removed;how long did you need to leave your drains in for?im really worried about the pain when they pull them out.since i heard the tissue starts to grow around the drains....thanks in advance.

 I had 26 lbs removed and kept my drains for a week.  However, I had a friend who had about 5 lbs removed and she had her's for nearly a month.  She said it didn't hurt when he pulled because she was already so numb in the area from the surgery.  I didn't feel a thing when mine were pulled.

I had 13 pounds removed and had 4 drains.  One out at 10 days , second out at 14 days.  The other two did not come out until one at 6 weeks and the last one at 7 weeks.  The last two did hurt slightly more when removed but not horrible.  Good luck. brenda

I think every surgeon has their own criteria for use of drains and how long they should stay in.  I had 6 drains in from my surgery on 7/21 and only had the last one removed this past Monday at almost 4 weeks.  I did have to have a seroma drained from the leg that had the drain removed the week before.  I have to say of all my surgeries (and I've had a few now) these drains hurt the most to remove.  My breast surgeon removed those two at like 1 week out as they weren't draining hardly anything.  The other surgeon wanted me to wait until they were consistently draining less than 30ml/day.

thank you everyone.i know every surgeon is different :) .i was just wondering what was about typical etc.im really hoping that i will stop draining fluid.dont get me wrong im glad that i have them but they are a pain! im sick of having them hanging out of my clothes all the time.n if i have them under my shirt or anything then it looks funny and makes me look bigger;like i havent had anything removed.i talked to the nurse today already and she said that she said she doubts it if they will be draining any less on monday then they are now....which stinks.not what i want to hear lol.thanks again :)

They're a total pain and you will feel so much better once they are out, but it's part of the journey. Just hand in there.

I had 4, they pulled 2 at the first week checkup, mostly because one of the two drains on the left was irritating a nerve and I couldn't walk without it kicking off some serious pain! The other 2 came out a week later.

 I had 15 pounds removed and went home with 6 drains. The last of my drains was removed at 2 and 1/2 weeks. None of them hurt when removed. In fact, since I am a nurse and live 2 hours away from my surgeon, I was able to take the drains out myself. 

LOL I took my last 2 out myself too. My surgeon is 2 hours away and I just couldn't see a 4 hour round trip just to pull 2 drains and snip the stitches around my bellybutton. Not that I'm advocating this! I've been a paramedic for 20 years.