One G-tube Coming Right Up

Aunt Kerry helped Susanne get Paxton ready for his morning therapy appointment. She was able to sit and watch a session for the first time. She was fascinated with all of the different activities and techniques that were asked of Paxton. She could get a better sense of what it was that Susanne had to work on with him on a daily basis. She could even see that even things that appeared to be play activities were actually building his strength and helping him improve developmentally. He did well during his appointment and had shown progress from the week prior, which was always rewarding. It helped Susanne feel like her hard work was paying off.

Susanne and Kerry decided to give Paxton a bath after he was finished with his appointment. They set up his bathtub in the hallway so that there was enough room for the two of them to bathe him. They hadn't even done more than place a towel on the floor before James decided he wanted to assist them. He laid right in the middle of everything. What a good big brother he was!

Kerry did a nice job of picking out an adorable outfit for Paxton to wear for the day. Too bad that he was in it all of ten minutes before he decided to poop everywhere so that it creeped up the back of the diaper and soiled his shirt. Nice one Paxton!

Kerry and Susanne spent the rest of the morning getting everything prepared that they would need for Paxton's appointment at the gastroenterologist. Today he was going to have a consult for a G-tube placement. Hopefully, they would be able to schedule the procedure within a timely manner. They would just have to wait and see.

They arrived at the appointment on time, which was impressive especially since it was Susanne's first time at this office. They didn't have to wait too long before they were seen, which was nice. The nurse got a pretty extensive history from Susanne. She was used to going through Paxton's entire past because she had to do it all too often. She felt more comfortable doing it this way as well because she had noticed a trend with the clinicians not reading Paxton's medical history before coming into the exam room for his appointments. Most of them would miss key information or they were not well informed about his medical conditions. Susanne had even found that some of the summaries that previous doctors had written about Paxton's background had some incorrect information in them. This could be dangerous for Paxton.

The gastroenterologist educated Susanne and Kerry on the procedure that she felt best suited Paxton. They were told that he was a good candidate for a G-tube button that would be placed laprascopically. This was the procedure they chose most commonly for children that had concurrent heart problems. More than likely he would have a MIC-Key button placed sometime within the next few weeks. This type of button would be less painful for Paxton long term and could be switched out by the parent as he grew in size. This was not the case for the other option. Susanne was well informed of all of the potential risks and complications with the procedure. She wasn't surprised by this information at all. She knew from doing surgical procedures herself as a veterinarian, that no matter how routine it was, there was always a potential for complications, especially if the patient had to undergo general anesthesia. Susanne made sure to ask all of her questions before they headed out. She felt really good about making this decision for Paxton as a next step. She thought that it would prove to be beneficial to his progress with oral feedings in the long run. She just hoped she was right.

Susanne and Kerry ran a couple of errands before heading home. Susanne stopped by work to pick up Paxton's pack-n-play from the office nursery for Cole to use when he arrived this evening. Julie finally got to meet the last of Susanne's three sisters. She had met everyone thus far, including Susanne's parents, with the exception of Kerry.

Susanne and Kerry arrived home around the same time that Leah got there. They were both so happy that they made it safe and sound. Even though the three of them just finished spending the previous weekend together, they still had so much to catch up on. It looked like it was going to be another late night in the Padilla household.