A Trick Turned Treat: Goodbye, G-Tube

Halloween Day, 10:30am: Sitter calls - the tube has popped out again. Nnnngggghhhhh!!! [fists raised to the sky]

I race to her house to get it back in before she has to leave and get girls from preschool. 

I get there around 11am, wash my hands, get the new tube and try - forcefully - to push it back in for a few rounds. It’s not happening - the hole has closed UP. It may have been 45 minutes from the moment Jacob [Alison’s son] walked up to her, g-tube in hand; “Look Mommy!” Ack. That’s how quickly those holes close up. 

I stepped outside to call Tim. In tears. The tube was “supposed” to be in through flu season as a safety net. Tim felt we had to get to the ER. 

I took Hannah and headed to Bethesda North about 15 minutes away - the closest ER. 

On my way, I was a bad driver and used my phone to look up our G.I. clinic and called to see if I could reach Hannah’s doctor or his nurse practitioner. The most immediate person to respond was another NP, but not ours. She looked over Hannah’s history. Based on just her record, this NP suggested we get it back in to be safe during flu season. She also said Bethesda would have no idea how to get a g-tube back in and to head to Children’s Liberty Twp Campus. Sigh. 

I headed onward and not a minute later the NP called back and had talked to OUR NP who knows Hannah and our history said we did NOT have to put the tube back in!! I literally and loudly said, “Oh come ON you guys!” The [not our] NP laughed and confirmed it was basically up to Tim and I at this point.

I was still driving towards the ER, calling Tim as we talked it out. We were on the same page; while the tube was definitely intended to stay as a safety net, we really weren’t using it. Hannah eats very well and is drinking more fluids now. IF she caught the flu and became dehydrated, she would just go to the hospital like any other child. 

I looped back to Alison’s to drop Hannah off and go back to work. Just like that. 70 minutes after the initial call. Two hours of driving around the Tri-State making calls like a mad woman while Hannah just bopped around in her carseat. 

We’re just washing with warm soap and water and covering with gauze. Some spots leak after tubes are removed, but Hannah’s body has shown it will close well, I think. 

The only lingering frustration is that our NP said we still need to do weigh-ins. Gaaaahhhh! I guess I can’t complain - we accidentally avoided another Children’s bill with our lost March 2017 appointment now : ) 

So this evening while Tim took the girls trick-or-treating, I cleaned up the area on the counter where all of Hannah’s accessories sat; breast pump parts, tubes, bottles... and now that spot is clear. For the first time since September of 2014. Just over two years after Hannah arrived - not even realizing a feeding tube was part of the plan. 

December 2014

October 31, 2016

A wave of various emotions ran over me - what a journey. That feeding tube has been the cause of most of my anxiousness the past two years. And now... it’s just - out. So much of our energy went into those tube feeds. I can’t believe it’s done even though we haven’t even been using it! 

So an accidental trick turned into a treat - I guess? 

Happy Halloween : )