I believe it only makes a difference when the drain is pulled out but a good idea is to check to see what the drain looks like before surgery. This picture with the blue background shows the different shapes in drains. I have heard the drains hurt like a $#!%$# coming out. This was not the case for me. It barely hurt at all. Maybe a 2 on a pain scale of 1-10. The difference is one is shaped like a rectangle, the other in a circle. Well we learned young that a square doesn't fit through a round hole (with no disrespect to any of the doctors that use that type) I'm guessing this is why it hurts so bad getting out. With the circular one it is able to slide right out with no tugging. The tube is placed in the breast while in surgery, with the little hole side placed in the skin to do the draining. The tubing comes from inside the breast out of your side and the bulb hooks onto a beautiful belt around the waist. The point is for the blood and fluid to drain into the bulb and not just build up in the skin or it will create a seroma. The drains need to be emptied 3 times per day and recorded in order for the doctor to see how much you are draining. You'll need someone to do it for you the first week, the velcro on the belt is too much strain on those muscles. My drains in particular, I was told must stay in for 2 weeks at minimum. I got 2 out after 12 days because I was draining so little and the other 2 out 14 days after. These suckers are a pain in the ass! I was lucky enough to have 4 of them. 2 on each side. They are stiched in and mine were covered in tegaderm (which is like a sticky saran wrap) These are very joyous to sleep with. You find yourself getting in a comfy position, you move ever so slightly and HELLO!! Hi, it's me, your drains and I'm here to make sure you can't sleep. While emptying them once, my husband lost hold of it and it fell right down giving that stich a nice little tug! Yeeouch! Poor guy, he felt terrible! The amount of drinage starts to go down as the days go and the color will start to change a little too. Some have been bright red, pink, dark and light brown. I could see some of the tubing in my breast and was amazed when it came out.. There is A LOT of tubing in there! I had to watch them take them out and then look at everything. I'm gross like that! Everything gets easier when the drains come out. You can take a bath, you can shower, the belt isn't itchy and constantly around your waist. Your clothes fit and you don't have to do a tuck and disguise. I felt a new sense of freedom when they came out!
The Expanders..
Remember the Bob Seger song "Like a rock"? This should be their theme song. Seriously. It feels like there are boulders in your chest. I have heard they are hard but never would have expected it would be like that. It is the weirdest feeling. These have to stay in for 3 months!? Ahhhh! I tell people it feels like someone taped two 5 pound bowling balls to my chest and sent me on my way. They go up to about my collar bone and out to my hips (not really but it sure feels that way). I have a hard time putting my arms down because they are so big on the side. They are put in the breast to expand the tissue that is left so the implant will fit nicer. With a normal breast augmentation (boob job) the surgeon will make a little pocket in the breast for the implant to sit in. This is surrounded by natural breast tissue so the implant looks like the normal breast. Unlike a breast augmentation, there is only 10% of tissue left in a mastectomy breast (It is impossible to take all the tissue). As you could imagine, the implant doesn't have that nice little pocket of tissue to sit in, so it literally is an implant with a piece of skin over it. Definitely not even close to a boob job. As you go to your appointments, the surgeon will fill the expander slowly until it has reached the desired size. You don't get to choose a size. It has to be similar to what you were before because of the skin. If you put half of what was in there before, you are left with a lot of sagging skin. It is the weirdest feeling ever as they fill the expander! As the saline is going in you are thinking, IT'S GOING TO POP! It won't, but it definitely feels like it will burst if anymore is put in. They will use a magnetic finder to find the little "port" which is that metal looking piece in the expander. They mark where that is, insert a butterfly needle, fill it with however many cc's they are using and viola! Your huge! You leave feeling like your breasts are touching your chin! I felt like Pamela Anderson walking out! It does come with some discomfort after as it's stretching on the inside. I would take some pain pills before you go or right after. Its uncomfortable. I will have a total of 500 cc's in mine, which seems enormous! He did remind me that I don't have the tissue that normal women do so it will need to be bigger. I did start out with a large c cup so he had to put quite a bit in to fill the skin. You definitely get used to the feeling of them in there. I was a side sleeper before. I have to adjust now because I am not able to lay on my side to much but it is all good! They start to feel a little bit more apart of you and not so foreign after a few weeks.
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