Large amount of drainage after mastectomy

[sand1974]

This is my first post on this sight. I am searching for answers for my 69 year old mother who had a mastectomy(with sentinal node removal and tissue expander) 3 weeks ago. She still has her surgical drain in place which is draining about 100cc in 24 hours. Has anyone had a simular experience? I assume at this point she is draining lymph fluid. Her DR.s just keepsaying be patient..well she is out of patients and I'm concerned that something else is going on. Has anyone else had this?
Thank you:

[LilyLou]

I'm searching for answers too - I had a double mastectomy on 4/14/10 with One Stage Implants (implant at time of breast removal-no stretching). After surgery I too had more than 100cc of fluid per day, sometimes more, and drain was left in for 4 weeks and it had to be removed for fear of infection however I was still draining large amounts. Now it is 16 weeks from surgery and the fluid has found its way to my chest - very uncomfortable. See my plastic surgeon tomorrow and I need answers. Just recently found the term 'chest wall edema' so have been using my spare time to research. Need to know if this will go away, lessen in time, ?? what to expect. So far I have no answers from any one of the three doctors involved - each referring to the other. Bought a sleeve and glove which am hoping will direct the fluid to another area besides my chest but too early to know if helping.