Drain - Going home with a

Going home with a drain
After an operation whereby the axillary lymph nodes have been removed, a drain is usually inserted in the area where the surgery was performed for draining blood and tissue fluid.  This drain has to stay in until the daily amount of fluid that is drained has become less than 50 millimetres. In order to limit the risk of infection the drain is removed after 7 days at the latest. An appointment at the outpatient breast clinic for this will be made for you when you are going home/are discharged.

Early discharge from the hospital
Approximately 1 to 3 days after the surgery you usually have recovered sufficiently to be able to leave the hospital. An early discharge from the hospital is only possible when the wound is healing well and the surgeon considers it safe.  

Taking care of the drain at home
During your admittance, the mammacare nurse will teach you how to handle the drain at home and how to measure the drain production.

Taking care of the skin surrounding the drain
On discharge, a transparent plastic foil will be placed over the insertion point of the drain. You can shower at home with this without any problems. It also allows you to keep a close watch on the insertion point in the skin.

Emptying the medical bellows Press the medical bellows with 1 hand so that the wound discharge can go from the medical bellows into the measuring cup. The clamps above and below the medical bellows must always be open during drainage and the tubes must not be bent. After drainage, only the clamp below the medical bellows is closed again. You can rinse the tip of the medical bellows under the tap.

Measuring and registering the drain output
Empty the medical bellows twice daily (or if necessary) and note down the quantity on the relevant list. If all is well, the quantity of fluid decreases more and more every 24 hours. When the production has become less than 50 millilitres per day, the drain may be removed. You may contact the breast care nurse to make an appointment.  

	Date	Drainproduction in ml
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6
Day 7

If you empty the drain several times per day, you may add the production.
Kindly take this list with you to the Outpatient clinic.

Problems with the drain
The following problems may occur:

• The drain does not seem to be well positioned anymore
• The insertion point seems to be inflamed
• The skin surrounding the drain is swollen
• The drain fluid production seems to increase instead of decrease
• The drain fluid seems to have become bloody
• The drain can not be emptied
• The drain can not be kept vacuum
• Fluid leaks alongside the drain

Contact 
In case of these problems or if anything is unclear, please contact the Breast Care Nurses:

Mrs. L. van der Wilden
Telephone number  070 - 312 43 32  

Mrs. P. Keunen
Telephone number 070 - 312 45 33  

Mrs. V. Skinner
Telephone number 070 - 310 58 31

Outside office hours:
Emergency Department 070 - 312 44 45  

Edition: December 2009/digital version