Today I realized that Beans has been on g-tube (stomach) feeds for 2 years now! Just over two years ago, he was admitted to Arnold Palmer hospital in Orlando. He was placed on IV fluids and j feeds (intestine) were stopped. It was time to determine if he needed a separate J tube (as opposed to keeping the GJ he'd had for 5 years which has to be replaced in the hospital) or if he could tolerate G feeds. All bets were on him getting the separate J tube, but he shocked us all - doctors included!
When he entered the hospital, he was on his feeding pump 22 hours a day. He had to carry around his backpack everywhere he went and the vast majority of time he had to have an additional bag hanging off that allowed his stomach contents to "vent."
Now granted, the GJ was a huge improvement over the NJ. He's had some sort of feeding tube since he was 2. He had the G tube for a year, then the GJ tube for 4 years, he lost the GJ shortly before we moved from Utah to Florida due to multiple resistant infections. During the few months the tube was out to allow his stomach to heal, he had the NJ. This tube was TORTURE. Placement was unbearable and could take over 2 hours, during which Beans would be crying, gagging and vomiting. The doctors would feed the tube down his nose, down his throat and esophagus, through his stomach and out into his intestines. Then they'd feed it quite a ways into his intestines. The hardest part was getting it out of his stomach. Those were some tough times. People staring, him accidentally pulling it out, and starting a new school in a new state with a tube sticking out of your nose certainly didn't make it any easier.
But now, he gets fed every 3 hours! If his tube gets pulled out, I can simply replace it at home (as long as we notice right away). No tube sticking out of his nose, no backpack to lug around, no bag of yuck hanging off him, not even a dangling tube to get caught. These are the great times! As my grandmother and I constantly remind each other, you just don't know how great the good times are unless you've had the hard times. For this I am thankful.
