FAQ

Drain Log is a private, on-device tool for recording postoperative lymphatic-drain amounts and optional color and consistency observations. It totals readings and can prepare a report for your care team.

The public page at / explains Drain Log, its privacy model and workflow. Select Start recording to open the application at /app/. An installed Home Screen icon launches the application directly.

No. Recording readings does not require an account, username, or password.

Before clinic setup, open Settings, choose one to four drains, and select Save settings. After submitting an approval link, the patient name, surgery date, physician, clinic name, clinic phone, and port count supplied by staff fill these settings and are read-only. The clinic phone comes from the selected physician's saved contact. Contact the care team for corrections. Optional Left/Right drain locations remain editable. Older links lock the care-team fields they supply; patient name and surgery date are always read-only.

Drain Log supports one to four drains. Before clinic setup, choose the count in Settings. After submitting a clinic link, the supplied count is read-only; ask your care team to correct it.

Patient name and surgery date appear as compact, read-only details. Your clinic supplies them through an approval link; submit the request to apply them. Contact your care team for corrections. Existing details from an earlier version or a backup are still displayed. You can record readings without these details. Doctor, clinic, phone, and drain count remain editable until supplied by a clinic link.

Yes, when your browser supports installation. On iPhone, open Drain Log in Safari, tap Share, and choose Add to Home Screen. Other supported browsers may show an Install button near the top of the app.

After the app has loaded and cached its files, recording, viewing readings, and JSON backup/restore can work offline. Submitting a request and checking the decision need internet. Reports can work offline after approved access is verified and saved in this browser, until its displayed expiry.

On Today, select Add lymphatic drain reading. For each displayed drain, enter an mL amount, review its date and time, optionally select color and consistency, and then select Save all drain readings.

Showing every configured drain reduces the risk of saving a measurement under the wrong drain or accidentally omitting one.

Every configured drain requires an mL value so a complete set is recorded. Enter 0 when a drain had no output during that measurement.

Yes. Amounts may include one decimal place, such as 12.5 mL, and must be between 0 and 1,000 mL.

No. These observations are optional and can be selected separately for each drain. Record only what you observe and do not use the app to decide whether an appearance is normal.

Yes. Each drain has its own date and time fields plus optional color and consistency selections.

Yes. Change the prefilled date and time before saving.

Yes. Open History and select Edit beside the reading. Correct its amount, date and time, color, consistency, or other observations, then select Save changes. Only that reading is updated. Close the entry window to cancel. Create a new report after corrections; previously sent reports do not change.

History offers Edit to correct individual readings. There is no individual Delete control. Settings has Delete all readings, which removes every saved measurement after confirmation. Export a backup first if you may need the readings later.

Today focuses on adding readings and shows when you last recorded them. Open History for each day's combined total and individual drain readings. Approved reports include totals and drain charts for your selected dates.

Open History. Days and readings appear newest first. Each dark blue day row shows the date and combined total in white. Reading rows alternate white and light gray. Select Edit to correct a reading.

Open your care team’s link, select Not yet submitted in the app header, then Submit approval request. Pending status updates automatically while tracking or Patient approval is open online in the original browser. When the header shows Approved, open Report. Choose From and Through dates and select Create report. Review the preview and displayed recipient, then select Email to staff to send a PDF to your approving staff member. Email needs internet; submission does not confirm inbox delivery or review. Report access lasts 28 days from staff approval.

Yes. Select View a fictional sample report on the public website or the Report screen. The sample is marked SAMPLE — NOT A MEDICAL RECORD, uses invented entries, and does not access your readings or patient details.

Confirm that the selected date range includes the dates of your saved readings. Readings outside the From and Through dates are excluded.

With active staff approval, select Create report and review the preview. Select Email to staff to create a PDF attachment and send it to your approving staff member. An internet connection is required to send email. You can also use your browser's Print command to print a prepared report.

Previews and PDFs are generated locally in your browser. Selecting Email to staff sends the PDF, including patient details and readings, through the Drain Log email service and Resend to the approving staff member shown on screen. The PDF is not saved in the Drain Log database or application logs; the email provider and recipient mailbox may retain it.

No. Reports are patient-generated summaries. Review them for accuracy and use them only to support communication with your care team.

Your drain readings, observations, patient details, and report contents are stored locally on your device using browser storage. They are not stored in Drain Log's server database.

Your saved tracking history stays in your browser. If you select Email to staff, the selected PDF is processed temporarily by the Drain Log email service and Resend for delivery. Staff approval and status checks do not send your readings or reports.

No. Drain Log does not sell or monetize your health tracking information and does not include third-party marketing trackers, advertising SDKs, or social-media pixels.

In Settings, select Export Drain Log backup (JSON) and save the downloaded file somewhere safe. This file is for restoring Drain Log, not for importing directly into a clinic system. Export regularly, especially before clearing browser data, changing devices, or uninstalling the app.

Create a report and select Email to staff to send an easy-to-review PDF attachment to your approving staff member. The JSON file in Settings is a Drain Log backup and should normally be kept private unless it is being used to restore the app.

Open Settings, select Import backup, choose a Drain Log JSON backup, and confirm the replacement. Import replaces the current readings and restores local settings while preserving any existing clinic profile. A backup containing a clinic profile retains its read-only behavior on a new device. Report approval does not transfer.

No. Import replaces the current local readings; it does not merge two histories. Existing clinic-supplied settings take precedence over backup settings. Export the current data first if you may need it later.

Local readings, settings, the saved approval request, and report access may be lost. Export a JSON backup first; Drain Log has no server backup of readings. Restoring a readings backup does not restore or transfer approval. Ask your care team about a new request on the intended browser.

No. Private browsing commonly deletes local app data when the private session ends. Use a normal browser window or an installed Home Screen app.

Open Settings, select Delete all readings, and confirm. This permanently removes all locally stored measurements. Settings are stored separately.

See Privacy and Terms.

After you submit the approval request, the link fills your patient name, surgery date, physician, clinic name, clinic phone, and number of ports. These clinic-supplied settings are read-only. Contact your care team if they are wrong. Readings and optional Left/Right drain locations remain editable. A backup restore preserves your existing clinic settings; a backup that includes clinic settings retains their read-only behavior on a new device. Report approval does not transfer through a backup. Older links without patient name and surgery date fill and lock their supplied care-team fields. Patient name and surgery date remain read-only, including without a clinic profile.

Ask your care team for a patient approval link. Open the emailed link on the same device, browser, and website where you use Drain Log. The link opens the first tracking screen. Select Not yet submitted at the top to open Patient approval, then select Submit approval request and show the full DL-… Reference ID to staff for verification. Opening the link alone does not submit a request, and emailing or generating it does not approve reports. No patient account is needed.

Report previews and emailing PDFs to staff stay locked until staff approves and you check the decision online in the original browser. Recording, viewing saved readings, and JSON backup/restore remain available before approval and after report access expires.

An unused link expires 30 minutes after generation. The review deadline starts at submission and defaults to 48 hours. Authorized staff can change their organization’s review window from 1 to 720 hours, including recalculating active pending deadlines from original submission times. Check the current deadline displayed on your request. A deadline is not a promise of a response time; contact your care team if help is needed.

Your care team sees the request and verifies your identity through its own process. The approval status button in the app header shows Not yet submitted, Approval pending, or Approved with View details. Select it to open your request. Pending status updates automatically while the app or approval page is open online. Once approved, report access lasts 28 days from staff approval, not from your submission or last check. Reopening the app does not restart the period. Rejected, expired, unavailable, or revoked requests do not unlock reports; contact your care team.

Each link accepts one request, tied to the submitting browser’s installation and private credential. An unused forwarded link can be submitted by whoever receives it first, so keep it private and let staff verify you. A submitted link cannot be reused from a different browser. Separate patients sharing Wi-Fi can use separate links; IP addresses are not patient identity.

The Reference ID starts with DL- and identifies your submitted request. Show it to staff. The Clinic Patient ID in the email is a random GUID generated for the clinic to map in its own records. It is separate from the request reference and does not grant report access. The patient status page does not display that clinic GUID.

The request sends installation and request identifiers and a private credential, separately from readings. The service records the organization, care-team setup, request and decision times, status, and IP address when available. Readings, notes, and reports are not uploaded. The link carries an encrypted patient name and surgery date, which the approval service processes temporarily and returns to your device without storing them in the database. The separate approval email includes the staff-entered patient name and surgery date and is sent to the entered patient email, copying the sender and the organization’s saved staff CC list. The provider and mailboxes may retain it. See Privacy.

Initial submission and checking approval require internet. After a signed access credential is verified and saved, reports can work offline until its original expiry. A successful online access check applies revocation, expiry, or organization unavailability. Changing device, browser, or website has separate storage, and restoring a readings backup does not transfer approval.

Common causes include private browsing, cleared site data, browser cleanup, uninstalling the app, changing browsers or devices, or device-storage failure. Restore from an exported backup if one is available.

Before clinic setup, choose the correct number in Settings and select Save settings, then close and reopen any open entry form. Clinic-supplied drain counts are read-only; contact your care team if the count is wrong.

Every configured drain must have a numeric value from 0 through 1,000 mL. Complete any field marked Required and remove unsupported characters.

Import requires a valid Drain Log JSON backup no larger than 10 MB. The file must not have been manually damaged or converted to another format.

Some browsers do not expose an install prompt, or the app may already be installed. On iPhone, installation is performed from Safari's Share menu using Add to Home Screen.

Yes. Open History and select Edit beside the reading. Correct its amount, date and time, color, consistency, or other observations, then select Save changes. The original reading is updated on this device. Close the window to cancel. Previously printed or emailed reports are not updated; create a new report after correcting readings.

No. Changing the configured count changes future entry fields. Existing history remains associated with the drain names under which it was saved.

No. The app records and totals values but does not interpret them, diagnose a condition, or determine whether a drain can be removed.

Follow the specific instructions given by your surgical team. Contact them about concerns such as fever, increasing redness or swelling, worsening pain, pus-like or foul-smelling fluid, sudden unexpected changes, loss of suction, or a displaced tube.

No. Only your care team can make that decision based on your procedure, measurements, examination, and clinical circumstances.

No. A surgical drain removes fluid from a surgical area. Lymphedema is swelling related to impaired lymph flow. Tell your care team about new or worsening swelling, heaviness, tightness, skin changes, reduced movement, or discomfort.

No particular food is proven to flush the lymphatic system or directly control surgical-drain output. Follow your clinician's nutrition and fluid instructions, and discuss supplements or restrictive diets with your care team.

Do not rely on Drain Log for emergency help. Contact local emergency services or follow the urgent-care instructions provided by your medical team.