Asher had his g-button surgery last Friday. (Aug. 17th) Poor buddy had waaay too many wires and tubes afterwards. He had an ng in his nose draining his tummy, the g-tube itself had a tube and bag attached to vent his tummy. Then he had an iv on his foot, and a pulse ox on a toe, and all the normal leads recording his heart rate and breathing rates (5 of those.) We were all so ready for him to loose some wires! And the day after surgery..he slowly did.
Ah, feeling a little better.
Just the tube venting and the iv left.
Wire free!
Here's a close up of the button with gauze underneath it. The gauze needs to be there a few weeks to protect the skin under it. The incision is next to it and covered with clear tape so you can't see it very well.
We LOVE seeing his tube-less, tape-less face!!! His first week after surgery was pretty rough. He didn't feel very well. He was throwing up at every feeding and crying, coughing, gagging through all the throwing up. We think his tummy was sore, inside and out.... so every time he coughed or threw up, it hurt his tummy too. :( We ran his feeds even slower (over 2 hours), dropped the calories a little, and the volume at little and that seemed to help. We hope to start feeding therapy very very soon at Our Children's House. He still doesn't want to suck at all. Part of that is he's been through a lot, and also we think he's not super hungry because his food runs for so long. But it's all a balancing act....creating an environment for him to want to eat...and throwing up all the time doesn't make anyone want to eat! So, we will begin to take slow steps back to eating, and hope and pray he will want to eat and will enjoy it one day!!
It's been MUCH harder to catch Asher smiling on camera now. My phone captures his attention and he watches it and focuses on it instead of smiling at me because of what I'm saying to him! It's so funny how observant he's becoming. His hands catch his eye every now and then and he watches them move as if they aren't part of him! It's so funny. He's "growing up"....getting so aware and smart!
Robyn,
ReplyDeleteMy name is Katelyn, I have an almost 2 year old, Gabriel, with a g-tube. He's had his g-tube for 21 months, and I've learned a lot in that time through trial and error, but also through online parent forums and blogs. The best information I got about how to care for a g-tube (and about a blenderized diet; Asher does NOT have to be on formula, PTL) was from online, not the surgeon or nurses, sadly. I just wanted to make myself available to you as a face to face contact, this (the tubie life) is a small world. katelyn.rauch824@gmail.com