GI consult set for Thursday
Tami,
I know this is a hard decision. And it is a decision we as a family really battled for a while with garran, but when it was all said and done we are very glad that we decided to get the G-Tube. He is gaining weight finally and we dont have to keep so much emotional pressure on him about eating like we were. It was alot of pressure on him to keep eating especially when he didnt want to, thats alot for a 4 year old.
Pre-G Tube he had decided to stop eating, we dont know why, he was 4 years old and down to 29 pounds. He looked very ill and his lungs were feeling the ill effects of the poor nutrition. In October of 2005 he was in the hospital and was having alot of issues with Pneumonia and we started him on Pariactin which in turn caused problems with his Liver. So couldnt use that to make him want to eat. We didnt know what to do.
His Doc suggested the G tube and we were like "NO WAY!!!!!" Then after careful consideration and research we decided that it was the best thing for him.
It was scary, he didn't know what was going on other than the fact that he was going to have a surgery and would wake up with something on his belly.
We had the G tube placed in Feb 2006. He was at 31 pounds at that point. They started him on Pediasure over night feeds and he started to gain weight right away. it was great. They said that he would eventually get his appetite back once his belly started to get bigger. But lo and behold he didnt right away. It is a balancing act. You have to work it out and fit the feeds into a schedule that will work for your child. Where they will have time to digest the feeding before it is time for dinner etc... That way they will want to eat with everyone else too.
With Garran, we had to up his Formula to Two-Cal HN which is a 475 calorie formula per can. He gets 7 cans a day. one after each meal and 4 at night. what I recently realized is that if I give him a can of water with each can of formula he digests the formula better and gets hungrier for real food when it is time to eat. And he is now up to 50 pounds.
But like I said you have to do what it best for your child. And not everything works for every child. You might find that she will tolerate the feeds at night really well and get up and want to have a big bowl of cereal. You just have to go with the flow and figure it out as you go along. Thats kinda the best advice I gan give.
Leah's (MOME2RT) son got his MICKEY button at the same time that garran got his, so you might ask her what she did as well.
If you have any questions or need any help, feel free to PM me and I will send you my number. We also change out the MICKEY button every other month so if you need some encouragement when it comes time for that let me know. I know I was a bit scared the first time. OK I was alot scared.... <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-blush.gif" border="0"> ....
Anyway, I know I am talking too much, but I hope everything goes well on Thursday.
Love,
