G-Tube Out

Sadly for Susanne, Paxton didn't quite make it through the night again. As Susanne was heading off to bed around 2:30am, Paxton woke up crying. He was kind of in a daze. He wasn't exactly awake, but he definitely wasn't in a deep sleep. He was comfortable when Susanne would hold him, but the second that she would put him down, he would start crying again. It was about an hour and a half later that he finally settled down and fell back asleep.

Susanne wanted to throw her phone when its alarm went off at 6:00am. The cats helped to motivate her to get up, but their reason was self-serving. They knew that when she got up they would get fed. SNEAKY!

Paxton was bright eyed and bushy tailed for his next feeding. Susanne decided to set him up on his play gym while he ate so that she could interact with him. She let him air out while he kicked around. He really seemed to enjoy that.

He sounded congested again, so Susanne tried to suction him out. She was successful. She ended up getting up a lot of thick mucus out of the back of his throat. It was probably partially in his nasal passage, but it was accessible from the back of his mouth because of his cleft palate. He felt much better after she cleared him out.

Once Paxton's feeding was completed, Susanne bathed him. He loved bathtime. She scrubbed his fingers. She scrubbed his toes. She scrubbed his face and even his nose. Her favorite part was putting lotion on him. She liked to give him mini-massages as she moisturized his skin.

After he was squeaky clean, she did the appropriate G-tube care. It didn't seem to bother him today, which was a relief. She put him in a new outfit and he was ready to go. He looked so cute.

Susanne was excited that she would get to see her friend, Cory, today. The original plan was that she would come over to visit with Susanne and Paxton, but that changed when she informed Susanne that her husband was coming down with a cold. Susanne decided to see if Moppy could watch the bug so she could meet Cory out for some lunch instead.

This plan worked out beautifully. Susanne was even hoping to finish up some of her errands that she didn't get to finish yesterday. She got dressed and ready to go and was out the door in no time.

She met Cory at Chipotle. It was so good to see her. She was just starting out her third trimester of pregnancy. She was feeling great and looking even better. It was so nice to sit and talk for hours. It was like no time had passed at all. Spending time with Cory reminded Susanne that she missed all of her favorite friends.

At the end of lunch, Susanne got a call from Moppy. She was calling because Paxton's entire G-tube had come out with the balloon inflated and all. It had become stuck between her and the crib as she was putting him down for a nap. This was an emergency situation. If she didn't act fast, the opening in Paxton's abdomen would close up. Susanne advised Moppy to get the emergency tubing to place into the stoma and to not move until Susanne could get to them. Her errands would have to be postponed again. She guessed she wasn't destined to get them done.

When Susanne got home, she went into high gear. She gathered everything that she would need to replace his MIC-KEY button. The first two attempts were unsuccessful. She didn't want to push too hard because of the concern of more trauma to the site. It was difficult to know whether to keep trying or not especially because Paxton was so upset. Finally, she got it in. The third time was a charm. Once it was in, she inflated the balloon to keep it in place. Then, she checked placement. She aspirated back the contents from his stomach so she knew it was in the correct location. The only concern now was whether or not there had been damage done to the granulation tissue that had developed over the last four months. Susanne knew that this was a serious situation. She contacted Paxton's pediatrician to discuss whether or not they still needed to go the emergency room. The one other time this happened, they absolutely had to go to the hospital. If the problem was not addressed within a sufficient amount of time, then the hole that gave access to his stomach would close up. The pediatrician told Susanne that if it were any other parent, she would recommend that they go straight to the hospital. Since she felt confident in Susanne's knowledge and assessment of the situation, she told her to just monitor him closely. If there was any sign of a problem, then she should go straight to the ER without a doubt. Susanne was comfortable with this advice and appreciated that the doctor trusted her so much. Susanne was informed to hold off on any continuous feedings until she knew he could handle bolus feedings without any complications.

Paxton was exhausted after that whole ordeal. He went right down for a nap. Susanne went outside to finish shoveling the sidewalk and driveway. She wanted to clear it all out before the next potential snowstorm that was predicted to happen this week. She was hoping round three of shoveling would take care of it all. Her shoulders were sore and she was running low on energy.

Susanne finshed up some other household chores while Paxton slept away. She was hoping that he slept through the night tonight since they had a six hour drive ahead of them tomorrow.