The G Tube - Part I
Cassandra needed a feeding tube or "G-Tube" (short for gastronomy) in order to get her nutrition. Cassie made several trips to the hospital the first year of her life because she had bad reflux and she was aspirating her food into her lungs. Cassie was a wonderful breast feeder and she even took to solid foods extremely well, however her reflux and aspiration kept making her sick - an infection would develop in her lungs and she'd get pneumonia. In April of 2004 Cassie was in the hospital for 25 days recovering from aspiration pneumonia and at that time the doctors told us the best course of treatment would be surgery.
Cassie would have to have a Nissen Fundoplication and a G-Tube. The Nissen was supposed to tighten the connection between her stomach and esophogus to prevent the reflux, and the g-tube was how we got the food into Cassie since she she wasn't supposed to eat by mouth anymore. Getting the G-Tube was very sad for us since Cassie was breastfeeding so very well and she had taken such a liking to solid foods. However, we needed to do this so Cassie could stay healthy and continue to grow.We would simply mix up some baby formula or breast milk and pour in down the tube. It wasn't anything like eating had been for Cassie - she'd just sit there and Mom or Dad would hold her in our laps, g-tube in one hand, food in the other and slowly pour the food in.
Unfortunately, the Nissen didn't work as it was supposed to.
posted by Todd Akers @ 8:58 AM
1 comments
1 Comments:
Oh those photos just break my heart... Cassie looks so awful in the second photo. It was shortly after the surgery and she was probably doped up on morphine.
As a breastfeeding mother I can not tell you how heartwrenching it was to have to stop feeding Cassie. I had no idea it was going to happen. We had been in the hospital for pneumonia for the second time in 4 months (she was about 8 months) and they decided to give her a swallow test to see if she was aspirating her feeds. Well she was... she couldn't drink liquids, nectar, or honey consitancies without have a few sips end up in the wrong pipe (she didn't even cough when it happened). Right there and then I was told she was not allowed to breastfed again. I was devistated. She was such a good nurser and I loved the bond we shared.
The doctors put in a ng tube (a tube down her nose and into her stomach) and began feeding her that way. Cassie HATED it. She could pull that tube out in no time flat. Putting the tube down into the stomach is fairly easy (they even train parents to do it) but Cassie's breathing issues weren't getting better with the tube in her stomach. They decided that she had horible reflux and the tube into her stomach only made her reflux up and aspirate on that. So then she need an NJ tube (this tube goes from the nose down into the top of the small intestines.) It is usually placed in radiology with the assistance of a floroscope (a type of x-ray). Well one weekend while we were in the hospital Cassie pulled the NJ tube out and there wasn't anyone in radiology to put it back in. They blindly attempted to get it in the correct place and confirm it's location with an x-ray. After 3 attempts they gave up. They said that they would just do it on Monday. Meanwhile Cassie was HUNGRY and she kept looking up at me with her big beautiful eyes. So I snuck her into the bathroom and breastfed her. She nuzzled back on my breast like she had never been away. Finally I quit hiding in the bathroom and told the nurses and doctors that until they could get the tube placed correctly I would be breastfeeding my daughter. Everyone was ok with that because they didn't want her to get dehydrated.
Well Monday morning came and I was breastfeeding Cassie when the speech pathologist came in and saw me. She went off on me. Did I know what I was doing? How ok'd me to breastfed Cassie? Didn't I understand what aspiration was? Yada Yada Yada. I have never in my life been spoken to the way that woman (and woman is a stretch of a word.. she is probably younger than me and doesn't have children) spoke to me. She went and ranted to the doctors who made sure the tube was placed again and I never got to breastfed Cassie again. Eventually she even forgot how.
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