Hi, I am seeking info on monitoring drains I had put in yesterday, I believe I have to record amounts of fluid daily and possibly ?? Clean the drain , I have been discharged with no info on this so any help would be much appreciated .
I had to record the amount daily until it was removed, but no one ever checked. How you empty it depends on the type of collection bag. Mine had to be clamped shut at the tube going into the wound first, then unclamped at the tube going from the bag to the valve the the valve opened and the contents emptied. Process reversed after so close the valve, clamp at the lower clamp and unclamp the top tube. Some have disposable collection bags, mine had to be squeezed to empty which then created a vacuum effect. Can you call the ward to get them to talk you through it?
Do NOT try to empty or open the bottle until you get medical advice from your team.
To measure the daily quantity place the bottle on a flat surface. Note the time of day and look at where the fluid goes up to. There will be markers on the bottle to show where certain measuremeants are, normally at 100ml intervals, with lines also to show where 50ml intervals are, and then shorter lines for 10ml (similar to a feeding bottle for a baby.) Note the amount.
The next day, repeat this at the same time of day (24 hours.) The difference between the quantity on day 1 and that on day 2 will be the daily output. Keep doing this daily, always at the same time.
Keep notes of the overall quantities as well as your calculations of the daily amounts.
Since this is the weekend, I would strongly recommend phoning the ward you were discharged from to find out if you are supposed to do anything else at all. If you get nowhere with the ward, call 111. Keep monitoring output and call your breast cancer nurse first thing on Monday morning.
Shocking that you have not been told what to do. You do need to record levels as GreyCats has indicated. I wouldn't start interfering with them. I had 2 different types, one being an old fashioned one which the Nurse attending to me after the op had no clue how to start off and didn't know what to do with it and neither did I. She called the Breast Surgeon in and received training on it. BCN's do need to record the levels and they do check that you have done this and how. I insisted mine was emptied by BCN as one got full and really heavy. Well, husband insisted really as I didn't feel very well due to blood leakage. I have still not come to terms with the fact that one of the BCN's flatly lied about having ever removed the damn thing when the Drs were asking what date it was removed. That was when I had a haematoma which the same BCN never even recognised as a haematoma.
