Question about chest tubes

[Adrienne]

I keep reading about people who had their chest tubes taken out right at the beginning. Mine were taken out the morning of my departure from the hospital five days after surgery (actually, one could not be pulled out so the nurse cut it and left part of it inside me saying it was not dangerous but would show up on an X-Ray). In any case, when she removed them, I think they were very short as if they had been attached to longer tubes when I needed to be drained. In fact, they must have been short, because I was up walking around just pulling my IV with me. Since I was not at my most perky and observant, I cannot swear to what was done, but I would like to know if anyone else had this experience. I know with IVs they can attach tubes to other tubes, so I imagine they can do it with the drain tubes also.

 

[marky]

I am a bit confused.. about leaving a bit of it in there??

All I can tell you is my experience..
My chest tubes were taken out on day 2 (surgery Fri am ..tubes removed Sun).
They were VERY LONG..and the doctor (not a nurse) who removed them told me that they are very long tubes and actually wrap around in there..which is why they were so uncomfortable to me.
They were much thicker than an IV tube.. more like a The drain tube on a foley catheter..
They were attached to a large (bucket) that they drained into.. and I would not have moved comfortably with them in place.
I am curious as to what you had?

It is quite interesting how so many of us experience the same surgery..completely differently.. Sure glad that there is more than one way to skin a (proverbial) cat!

But speaking about X-rays.. I had my chest xray to determine if ..which sternum wires needed removed..
they surgeon turned the contrast down on the Xray..and between my defibrillator and its wires, and all my sternum wires.. I looked BIONIC!! it was quite cool

 

[Adrienne]

I am a bit confused.. about leaving a bit of it in there??

To be more detailed, the nurse was having trouble getting one of the chest tubes out, so she called another nurse as well. Neither were able, and it hurt when they tried. One of the nurses said "Well, we'll just cut it and there will be a small bit that stays in"! I said "Isn't that dangerous?" She said, "No, what is dangerous is forcing it out". She continued and said that it would show up on an X-Ray though. It's been over 16 months since my operation, and it has never bothered me. One time, I thought I felt it, but I am not even sure.

 

[lynn]

Are you sure it wasn't the pacer wires? They had to leave one in me as it was stuck. But, I'm with Marky, my chest tubes were big and LONG and were on each side then dumped into one that went into a box that measured the drainage. I think mine came out on day 3 or so.

 

[hensylee]

I think mine stayed in 3-4 daysl. the team came in one morning and the nurse practitioner said 'we're taking out your tubes' and before his sentence was done, the tubes had been slurped out!

 

[pedimed]

Hensley,

"Slurp" is a good word for how the removal of the chest tube feels...

I am curious also as to "leaving portion of the tube in"... I also had a PA remove the chest tube (I only had one 'transthoracic'-no pericardial tube) and pacing wires....Strage feeling!! And, mine were removed on 3rd day after I had been in severe pain and they thought it may be the tubes so they took them out a day or so earlier than planned.. also bc I was not draining very much fluid..

Leah

 

[Adrienne]

Are you sure it wasn't the pacer wires?

It was the two tubes about an inch or so below the scar right in the middle, one sligtly left of middle, the other slightly right of middle. They look like bullet holes. It's what we see on everyone's photo of themselves in the tawdry shirt.

At the same time they took those tubes out, they took the neck tubes out.

To tell you the truth, I don't remember when they took the pacer wires out or where they were placed!! I remember having an external pacemaker that I felt kick in the first day or two.

 

[WayneGM]

My drain tubes were taken out on day 2 after surgery... Surgery on Tuesday, removed on Thursday. The pacer wires were left in an extra day as I was having fluctuations so they left the pacer on as a precaution. The drain tubes actually came out pretty easy. On the other hand the pacer wires were a bit "stickier". They got them out but it hurt like heck.

 

[ruth]

I had surgery on Tue, mine came out on Sat afternoon. The Dr's assistant came in and said on the count of 3 to exhale strongly and I did and she pulled what looked like miles of tubes from the 2 "bullet holes" in my chest. Up until then they had been filling a thing that looked like an oversized bubble at the end of a turkey baster. Every day the bubble was full to the brim.

The Dr. indicated that it was the amount of fluid draining per day that indicated when they could come out. When I fussed because I thought there was still a lot of drainage she said it had dropped to a level where they could have been removed even the night before. She said I'd feel better with them out. I dunno, it was nice to be rid of the bubble but besides that I didn't notice much.

Ruth

 

[Lynlw]

Wow I never heard of leaving any part of a chest tube in either. When Justin was a baby, that was the one thing I was always afraid of, I tend to be a klutz so always stand on the opposite side of the crib or bed then the chest tube container. I was always afraid i'd trip over t and rip the tubes out of his chest.
The chest tubes he had for his last surgery were really different from his other ones, this was alot thnner and instead of having the long tubes hooked up to the container on the floor, this was only a little longer than a foot and on the end had a bulb like a turkey baster. But even that tube i couldn't imagine leaving part of it in. He got back from the OR about 5 pm on monday and had the chest tube pulled early Tuesday, which I know because Tues around noon he moved to the floor and already had the chest tube and pacer wires pulled (he never had the neck line for any of his surgeries, altho when he was a baby he had an IV in his little head, I asked them if they could not do that any more if possible.
Speaking of thing showing us in xrays, Stents looked really cool in pictures for echos and caths. they remind me of those things we called chinese handcuffs when we were little that you put a finger in either end and couldn't pull them apart.

 

[Jkm7]

I had three drainage tubes and the description Marky gave closely resembles my experience except for me it was EXTREMELY painful when they pulled them. The Resident who took them out never gave me warning what she was doing; told me to take three deep breathes and she pulled them. I have never felt such pain in my life. The nurse immediately gave me morphine and it was very welcome. If/when I have a second OHS, I will ask for pain med in advance of them removing the tubes.

The only good thing about a second OHS is having more knowledge of what is being done to us, what to expect. My first OHS was an emergency and I had no knowledge of what was happening to me.

 

[geebee]

I had 2 tubes and they were removed 3 days after surgery. They came and gave me a shot of morphine about 15 minutes before pulling them but I don't think it made a difference. If it did, I hate to think how much it would have hurt without the morphine.

The tubes seemed like they were miles long and that they were pulling my insides out with them but it didn't last very long in reality.

I have never heard of leaving pieces in but I guess after 16 months any problem would have shown up by now.

 

[Lisa in Katy]

I win! I had 4 tubes. Two fat, shorter ones that I don't really remember because they pulled them out while I was in ICU. I think they gave me a boost of morphine before they pulled them, but all I remember is the "slurping" feeling that others mentioned. Two skinny, extremely long ones that didn't get removed until my discharge day, 6 days after surgery. Those two surprised me because they kept pulling and pulling, and again caused the "slurping" feeling but very little pain. Those two were connected to a bag like a Foley. I have four scars from the drains - two slits about an inch long, and two that look like doggy nipples.

 

[Ross]

You may have had something left in, but it wasn't a chest tube. Those suckers are like garden hoses.

 

[annb]

Byron had his tubes taken out on Wednesday, a day early according to the nurses. He thought it was the worst pain he was going to feel ever until he almost threw up yesterday. After they pulled the chest tubes out they stitched him at the "bullet holes". He said it was awful and was mad at me because I had not told him it was going to be that bad. I have to keep some secrets. He had a great night last night and is having a good day so far.

Ann

 

[Adrienne]

Becoming confused

Becoming confused

I have to admit I am becoming confused myself! I did some research on both chest tubes and pacer wires, and what the articles said about taking out pacer wires and sometimes cutting them near the skin when they can't take them out seems to indicate that it was the pacer wires they took out the last day. However, if that is the case, when the heck did they take the chest tubes out??!! Besides, as I said, the place where they pulled are the two "bullet holes" each of which has a stitch in it which can be seen. As I said also, I had the surgery on a Thursday, and on Sunday and Monday, I was walking in the halls, and I don't remember having anything attached other than the IV. This is very weird!!

 

[Kaasmom]

Each time a nurse came in to do anything other than vitals or blood....I always asked if it was going to hurt. When my drain tubes were removed and I asked the nurse, she said "Yes, it is going to hurt, that is why I gave you some morphine a little bit ago." I didn't find it too awful BUT...the day of discharge when a different nurse came in to remove the PACER wires...when I asked her the infamous question, she said "you may feel a little discomfort". Oh my goodness. That was by far the worst pain of my whole hospital experience, possibly my life. I managed to say a bad word as she was attempting to remove them. She left the room and went and got another nurse for help. I just squeezed nurse number 2's hand as hard as I could. I had tears rolling down my cheeks when they were finished with those. I apologized for squeezing so hard and one of them told me that it is just an odd sensation but not really painful. I don't think she has ever had PACER wires removed!!

 

[tobagotwo]

I feel cheated. I only ever had one chest tube, athough it was pretty big. The surgeon's PA came by very early on the day I left (day 3), and it slid out with a juicy, slurping kind of noise and feeling. Didn't hurt a bit.

The tiny emergency pacemaker wires burned like a sonofagun when they were pulled out, though. I think they pulled them too fast and it was friction burn.

Best wishes,

 

[Jkm7]

I guess it was a trade off. I had the terrible pain from the drain tubes being pulled and only a 'funny sensation' when they pulled the pacer wires.

After my experience with the tubes coming out on about day 3, when the nurse said she was going to pull the pacer wires I braced for more torturous pain and was very grateful when I never experienced any pain from them at all.

 

[perkicar]

I have to admit I am becoming confused myself! I did some research on both chest tubes and pacer wires, and what the articles said about taking out pacer wires and sometimes cutting them near the skin when they can't take them out seems to indicate that it was the pacer wires they took out the last day. However, if that is the case, when the heck did they take the chest tubes out??!! Besides, as I said, the place where they pulled are the two "bullet holes" each of which has a stitch in it which can be seen. As I said also, I had the surgery on a Thursday, and on Sunday and Monday, I was walking in the halls, and I don't remember having anything attached other than the IV. This is very weird!!

I think it might have been your pacer wires---chest tubes are pretty hard to miss, since they are attached to vacuum and a pleuravac and bubble all the time (although Cleveland has quiet ones). They put something called a pleur-x catheter in one of my patients last weekend--looks like a Swann but has a drain, and can drain pleural effusions. They left that in and come every few days and hook it up to a suction bottle and pull off fluid. It was really kind of amazing to watch them put in in, and then take off a full LITER of fluid off this ladie's lung. It's sealed and covered with a dressing when they're not using it.