Fay A. Posted August 17, 2003 Share Posted August 17, 2003 I had my right lung, a rib, and all the lymph nodes in the right side of the mediastinum removed in May. For those of you who work in the medical field can you tell me what is the "usual" time that the chest drainage tube remains in place? Is it common practice to remove a chest tube the day after the above mentioned operation, when an air leak is noted? Mine was, and I believe that is why I developed the left side pleural effusion and the left lung lower lobe partially collapsed. By the way....I wasn't told about the pleural effusion and partial lung collapse. When I asked about the increased pain, and the O2 sat levels dropping so much I was told that they didn't know why I was having such a hard time breathing, or why I was in such pain. I found out about the pleural effusion -two months later-when I obtained copies of radiology reports from the daily xrays taken while I was an inpatient. Any information you might share will be appreciated. Thanks, Fay A. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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