Pain from external drain-is this normal?

I agree about the stents.  The dark unrine is a pretty sure sign of jaundice.
My external drains were annoying and prone to infection but never painful.

-Peter

Candy .... You cant' make him better.  The doctors will have to do that.  But you can surely find out the full story and advocate fully on his behalf.  Is there anyone availble close by that can maybe stay with him or possible arrange for nursing care at home.  He really needs to be watch closely until they decide on what treatment is going to be done.  Being down and out with this type of cancer and the complications of stents and drain tubes can be a nightmare if things don't work as ment to.  He should know not to heasitate to call the ambulance either if his temp spikes or there is uncontrolable pain.  Your right cindy this is an ugly situation and he will not be able to do it alone that is for sure.  I am so sorry this is all happening. I commend you for getting him to the hospital.  Living so far away makes it difficult for you with out a doubt.  Bless your heart Cindy for doing what you can, although you can't cure him you can advocate and hopefully he'll get on the right track with the doctors. Don't hesitate to post any questions you may have as many on this site will give advise.  Take care of yourself as well.
God Bless and Best Wishes!
Jeff G.

I have an external drain as well and I have had a dickens of a time feeling well since it was installed.
Pain after it is in place is sometimes normal (so my doctor said). Apparently, it can leak and the bile drips where it shouldnt. After a couple of days, your body can close around the leaky spot and you start to feel better. That was the case with me.I was in the hospital over a week with the pain. I had xrays, ct scans, everything you could think of to find out what was wrong but nothing appeared so the doctor informed me I was just one of those people. So perhaps your brother is like me? I had to have morphine, pain tablets and I still did not move at all because of the pain.

I have been in the hospital now 3 times in a month because of my drain and it feels like I might be heading back there again this weekend. External drains suck.

I am sure you did the right thing in telling your parents. I was completely against my parents coming to me when I was diagnosed, but I was sure glad after they arrived.

Good for you about getting second opinions-sometimes you just need to keep knocking.

What keeps me positive...1)my husband. We talked long ago about how we wanted to spend the rest of our lives together and when we were old, we would have matching walkers. So now when I am depressed, he just says "matching walkers" and then I know that I have made a plan to grow old with him  2)keeping busy. I have Swedish class everyday. Even when I was in the hospital, I got  a 2 hour "pass" a day and went to half of my swedish class. Despite that I have been in pain and have a drain coming out of me, going to class is "normal" and it makes me feel better  3) I pray  4)talking with my friends and family...I love it when we are just shooting the breeze and the word "cancer" doesnt enter the conversation. 5) I saw a psychologist and I would strongly advice anyone who is dealing with this to see one

Kris

Candy,
it is good your brother is out. sometimes doing normal things not only makes the mind feel better, but also the body. I hope he feels better soon.

Kris

Candy,
I am so happy your brother's drain is finally behaving! C ompared to having severe sciatica which kept in bed a month a couple of years ago or having half my liver removed and my insides "reorganised", I swear that the leaky drain was by far more painful. I am sure everyone is breathing a sigh of relief. Please be careful though. Everytime i think my drain is better, I get a little over-excited about life and end up doing too much which then causes the drain to shift and leak again! Your doctor seems quite fair in his statements and I do hope that the surgery works out for your brother.

Kris

Funny this thread got resurrected because I'm dealing with this very issue right now.  I'm on my second external stent and the pain at the site where the tube exits my abdomen has been very problematic.  I'm also experiencing back pain that is getting more and more intense.

I can't stand up straight becuase it pulls on the tube so I walk around a little hunched over, bending over hurts, laughing or crying hurts, taking too deep a breath hurts.  The whole thing is very unpleasant.

My tube exits in the center of my belly, and I do experience pain from time to time on my right side which I assume is the tumor pressing against nerves.

Eating intensifies the pain, it's like having food in my belly pushes against the drainage tube and really hurts, I can only eat small portions, some days it's hard to even drink water becuase of the pressure pain.

Flushing the drain with the saline water is also difficult because it creates more painful pressure and I dread it.

Apparently there's not much to be done about it.  The doctors seem to be happy just to hear that it is draining and seem reluctant to do anything unless it gets blocked up and stops draining.  Meanwhile they just recommend pain pills to deal with it.

I am supposed to be getting myself strong for surgery this week, but this drainage tube is making that very difficult, and I am shedding more weight (6 more pounds this week!) and feeling very dehydrated.  I am hoping I can at least get some IV fluids to relieve the dehydration symptoms.

Very frustrating, feel like I just have to hang on as best as I can while waiting for the verdict about whether the surgery is a go or not.

Sorry to hear about so many people having this problem.....   The drain was a constant source of pain for my father. We were never certain if it was the cc, the drain, gas, etc., & docs could never confirm.  He too had it changed out a couple of times, going to a larger drain. The flushing was also painful for him, fortunately he had Mom to help. There were conflicting opinions on how forceful to be with the flush, but Dad could only stand it rather gentle because of the pressure. He too could rarely get comfortable, in that lower ab region, regardless of his position.  We took all tubing/flushing questions back to the nurses that put in the tubing, as opposed to the Onc. I know that Dad ate very little, and was miserable without a good BM or if the gas was aggitating his insides.

-Tess

Hello Quanyinprayer, Dad started out with a size 8 tubing, went to a 10, and could have potentially gone to a 12.  I've also heard of others having a 14.  Dad did have to have his flushed 2X a day. Occasionally the site would leak a bit with this flushing. Other, random times, the site would also leak. The docs indicated that they were not sure why this happens, but it does, and that they weren't concerned. They further said that two instances that should cause concern are if the draining doesn't stop leaking out or if the color gets funky. He was also leaking bile from the pic line in his arm, the bandage window would be very green after just a couple days, at times. They had never seen this before, and even called in the mfg. of the window-patch, as they thought there was some strange reaction going on. But they did test it and it was not infected, it did not have an odor, there was no discomfort or redness.... simply increasing amounts of bile leak. It is good that your Mom is having it tested, just to be sure.

The challenges are so difficult to manage & understand, they are hard at so many levels & I'm sorry that your family & your Mom are going through this.

You're in my thoughts.

Tess