How Many Drainage Tubes....

[OldManEmu]

I had 3 drain tubes; I never knew people had a different number. I thought these things were standardised for routine heart surgery.
The scars are no longer visible from the jumper leads (pacer leads).

 

[JeffM]

I had 3 drainage holes plus the little pin holes for the pacer wires. Andy - I didn't have stiches either. I thought most patients don't get drainage hole stitches because they want the wound to continue draining naturally. If it's any consolation, my drainage holes are now one inch slits. They healed nicely.

 

[sweetbanker]

3 here. 1 Big and 2 small and 2 wires. One of the small ones was right under my breast line and the bigger one still healing after 4 weeks. Makes it difficult to wear a bra which the doctor said wear 24-7 , easy for him to say lol. Interesting how different each procedure is handeled I guess it depends on the surgeon . Be well

 

[Jeanie]

Hmm, interesting question. I thought I had 3 but just took a closer look at the scars and it appears I actually had 4. I knew one was for pacing wires, and others for drainage but did not question the number. If I had to take a wild guess, (which I will just for the fun of it) I am guessing the more separate holes for different functions there are, the less likely there will be any cross contamination. If anyone finds out the 'real' answer, please clue us all in!

 

[neil]

just the one for me............

 

[Ross]

I'm pretty sure I had 4. I can't tell because I have so many holes in my body that I look like I charged a machine gun nest.

 

[Adrienne]

I had two, and the pacing wires seem to have been in the same holes. I just found an article that kind of explains the procedure. Here it is:

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7610106.html

 

[Lynlw]

Justin has had 5 OHS and the surgery for his infection in and under his sternum and has had all different numbers and kinds of chest tubes. For his surgeries at 10 days (incision between ribs from under arm to just about his spine that followed his shoulder blade.)and 18 months, he had 1 big thick tube that connected to the water/suction container on the floor, (Pleur evac? )I'm a Klutz so always stood on the side of the crib that didn't have the container since I was afraid I would trip over it and rip the tube out of his chest.I'm pretty sure he had the same thing when he was 10, just 1 of the big tubes (this was all with the same surgeon but 2 different hospitals.CHOP then duPont) and I believe a smaller one.
His surgeries at 17 and 19(different surgeon, back to CHOP) he had 1 much smaller/thinner tube that was right under his sternal incision and had the small plastic bulb that was squeezed and would open as it got fuller. They were MUCH nicer and easier to walk around with, the tube beside being thinner also was shorter and you could just safety pin it to your clothes to walk around . After the infection surgery, he had 3 of the thinner drains with plastic bulbs, that was because he had alot of fluid put in to clean his chest, so maybe the amount of tubes have something to do with how much fluid they see in your chest that needs to come out? The bulb scars are much smaller than the pleuevac.
Oh about incision size, it alway amazes me, how CHD surgeons can work in such a small space on such a tiny heart, even tho his thoracotomy went all the way around his side/back, since he was only 5 pounds the incision was only about 2-3 inches. when he was 18 months and had the full sternal incision it was close to 4-5 inches (they take up the same amount of space on his body, but now look as long as his newer one when he was full grown. His heart the first 2 surgeries was about the size of a walnut, they say your heart is about the size of your fist, think about how tiny a baby's fist is)
Beside the 2 different OHS scars and all the chest tubes, he had pyloric stenosis surgery (stomach) at 17 days, he said he would be a very good extra for any of the Pirates of the carribean movies since he loves to sail and he wouldn't need alot of make up to look like hes been in alot of sword fights.
As far as I can remember, All of his temporary pacer wires came out his big chest incision, and didn't have their own holes.

 

[mecretired]

I had 3 small incisions--2 for drains and 1 for the pace wire. But I also had a 2 inch incision just below my collar bone on my upper right chest. The surgeon said this was because the blood flow had to be rerouted since they were working in the aorta. I didn't really understand as I was on cardio/pulmonary bypass. But he told the nurses who all wanted to know--that they would see a lot more of that incision.

 

[Lynlw]

I had 3 small incisions--2 for drains and 1 for the pace wire. But I also had a 2 inch incision just below my collar bone on my upper right chest. The surgeon said this was because the blood flow had to be rerouted since they were working in the aorta. I didn't really understand as I was on cardio/pulmonary bypass. But he told the nurses who all wanted to know--that they would see a lot more of that incision.

Sometimes for min invasive (or REDO full sternal openings,) they use a seperate incision for the heart lung machine. Normally they use the big incision, to hook up the bypass, but there isn't enough room in some min invasive surgeries, so they use the veins /arteries by the collar bone or groin area (where they do caths)
The reason they may use a seperate incison for REDOS is in some cases it is safer to put you on Bypass before the open the sternum, (in cases where the heart may be fused to the sternum from previous surgeries)

 

[Luana]

I had only had one chest tube. I did not have a sternotomy, small incision between ribs instead, and was hooked up to the heart lung machine via 2 incisions in the left groin.

 

[MarkU]

I had two drain tubes below my incision and two wires on my upper left chest. They pulled the drain tubes about 24 hours post op. They 'forgot' about the wires which were coiled up under some gauze and tape. One of the physician's assistants literally pulled them out while I was standing in the hallway when on the way to get discharged. I also found an EKG wire patch they had missed the day after I got home.

Mark

 

[Bryan B]

I had 3 chest tubes, one being a Blake/JP drain in addition to the 2 pacing wires. All 3 of mine were right below my incision and each were stitched close with 1 stitch after the tubes were removed. They pulled my pacing wires out while I was on the floor and I never remember seeing scars for those, but I had a scar on my neck for awhile from the central line that was in my jugular vein while in ICU. Here is an article from Wikipedia which explains what chest tubes are used for:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chest_tube

Here's another one where nurses are discussing what types and how many (sounds like a lot of the reasoning is purely surgeon preference):

http://webcache.googleusercontent.c...bes&cd=4&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a

 

[jendyk]

I had only one drainage tube which was sewn up by the time I left ICU (intensive Care Unit). However, I had 6 royal blue colored wires coming out of my abdomen for a pacemaker, I was told. About 3 days later, on the ward, the nurse pulled them all out. There was about a foot of wire coming out of each hole. I assume that this was because I am 100 pounds overweight. Surprisingly, there was no blood or wetness on the wires. The home care nurse took out the drainage tube stitch about 2 days after I got home. It looked like a thick rope. (-:

I have to boast that I walked in ICU: 5 steps to the right, 5 steps to the left, and 5 more steps to the right and then the nurse who held me up, insisted that I get back into bed.