post-surgery question

[Hopeful51]

my husband just had lobectomy (upper right) for stage 1 lung cancer and is 2 days post-op. They have been unable to remove the drain so far as still a small leak. They are talking about ‘bagging’ this to send him home and say it’s nothing to be concerned about and will just take a bit longer to heal. Can anyone explain a bit more about this and are there any additional precautions we should be aware of?

[RoyCastleHelpline Partner Ask the Nurse Roy Castle]

Dear Hopeful51

It is not unusual for some patients to go home with a chest drain after lung surgery, this can be either attached to a bag or the district nurse comes in every few days to drain this manually by releasing the valve, and this should be explained to you near his discharge, if not ,do ask them to clarify. The chest drain is held in by a stitch or two.

Once the chest drain is removed, the wound heals over slowly, there may be some leakage onto the dressing then this eventually stops.

It there is still excess fluid there from the operation, as you know, it is better it comes out than stays in the body and the chest drain can be managed well at home. The ward may have a leaflet on caring for a chest drain at home.

You may find this patient information leaflet useful from the University Hospital Southampton on caring for chest drain: uhs.nhs.uk/Media/UHS-websit...

This link is to our booklet on lung surgery and the timelines to recovery: roycastle.org/app/uploads/2...

If you or your husband would like support, you can access our support services through this link, we offer one to one support or online group support: roycastle.org/help-and-supp...

If you would like to discuss anything, you can call our free phone ask the nurse on 0800 358 7200 Monday to Thursday 0900-1700 and Friday 0900-1600, alternatively you can email us at [e-mail]

All the very best

The Roy Castle Support Team

[Hopeful51 in reply to RoyCastleHelpline]

Thank you for explanation

[JanetteR57]

That's quite quick to have considered removing the drain although know these days they like people to be in as short a stay as possible. I was in from 16-22 Dec 2010 and had open surgery - I think the drain was removed on 20th - I remember it being very uncomfortable when it was removed. I had previously been told that I may be sent home with the drain and that was before I had the surgery so think it's quite common.

Air leaks although sound scary are also not that rare so they do have standard procedures on what to do. If he has been allocated a specialist lung nurse, it's worth having their contact details so you can call them if you have further questions when he comes home.

Do have a read of this booklet on recovering from surgery as it may well answer other questions too. good luck to you both.

roycastle.org/app/uploads/2...