The G-Tube Part II
I say the Nissen didn't work because Cassie continued to throw up. A lot. In fact some days were so bad all she did was eat, throw up, then pass out. It makes me angry thinking about it because in my opinion she was much better off before the surgery. We could have been more vigilant had we not gotten the surgery and been very careful when she appeared to be getting pneumonia. At least in that case she still would have been getting breast fed as well as eating more solid foods, and she wouldn't have been forced to "eat" that awful baby formula and throw up all the time. It was so bad that she developed a hiatal hernia from throwing up and retching so much. Finally, no study has ever shown that aspirating breast milk causes lung problems or pneumonia. Had we had it to do it all over again, I would stronlgy lean toward not getting it done.
Still, the g-tube was as a part of Cassandra as her big beautiful eyes or her silly smile. We quickly became experts at getting her ready for feeding. Cassie's day care teachers at Mulberry even learned how to feed Cassie through the tube. Bringing her feeding supplies and hooking her up in a restaurant, in the car, wherever just became part of our routine. It wasn't a hassle, a pain, it was Cassie.
posted by Todd Akers @ 4:19 PM
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1 Comments:
The staff at Mullberry were so wonderful with Cassie. Ms Celeste and Ms Hedia both welcomed Cassie back to daycare with open arms after almost a month in the hospital. For the first week back I would come in and feed Cassie. Then Ms. Celeste said that she would be willing to learn how to do the tube feedings. She had it down in about 3 days. Managing a room full of infants and tube feeding one of them is no easy task but they did it and did it wonderfully.
One of this things they tell you when you are in the hospital is that all kid's have their g-tube buttons pulled out at least once. This isn't something you really want to hear but it is true. The first time Cassie's button came out was at Mulberry. I got a phone call one morning that I needed to get to daycare right away. I was terrified because Cassie had fallen and hit her head that morning and I thought it was worse than I orginially thought. Luckily it wasn't her head, as Ms. Celeste was getting Cassie ready for a feed another child had reached over and pulled out her button. I worked right across the road from daycare and was there in no time flat. Ms Celeste was literally grey (she is a very beautiful black woman) and Cassie was laying in her lap.... her g-tube site was slightly bubbling. I ran to get a syringe to try and deflate the balloon that holds the button in place and reinsert the button but the syringe I had was too large. I grabbed Cassie, screamed reassurances over my shoulder to the stafff and headed to the ER. You have to get something in a g-tube site within an hour of the button coming out or the hole beings to close up. Then it needs to be dialated to get another button in... this can be painful. Well I made it to the ER with about 20 minutes to spare but there were no g-tubes of the correct size. The doctor refused to put the old button back in (it was only one day old) so they put in a foley catherter (a 2 foot long foley) and sent me home to replace it with a spare button. I took Cassie home and changed out her button with the help of my father. For some reason my dad didn't realize what I was going to be doing to Cassie - he thought I needed help changing her diaper. I untaped the 2 feet of catherter that was wrapped all around my little baby, deflaited it, removed the foley, stuck in the new button and inflated the balloon to secure it in place all whole my dad was holding Cassie on the floor. When I was done my dad grabbed me and told me what an amazing mother I was. To me it was just another wild and crazy day with Cassie. After that I carried a complete button changing kit with me every where I went.
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