Old versus New

For those of you who are curious as to the difference between James old and new tube ...

this pictures is from October 2006, a couple months after his first tube was put in.

I am not sure as to the technical name of this tube. It has been referred to as a PEG tube (percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy) but most commonly just called a G-tube (gastrostomy) - which is a broad term for any tube placed into the stomach (including his new one). This tube was pretty permanant ... in that it won't just fall out and could last years - or so they claimed. It is recommended to have it changed after 6 months because you cannot just take the tube off and soak it to clean it out properly ... slowly things begin to build up in it ... if you look closely at the picture you will see a cross-bar by his stomach, it is more of a clear colour, then look at the tube itself, it is yellowish ... but it was at one time the same colour as the cross bar. This tube was held in by a small disk behind the abdomen wall, which they had to literally yank out. Considering how James has yanked on this and caused some good bleeding, but yet it didn't come out, I can only imagine the kind of yank they had to do to get it out ... hence the reason he need to be sedated. So it is suprising the the site is not damaged after the change, but besides some slight pussiness it looks pretty good.

And here we have James today ... sporting his new cadillac MIC-KEY Low-Profile Gastrostomy Feeding Tube ... simply referred to as a Mickey or Mickey Button, and still can also be referred to as a G-tube. Unlike his other tube this one is not so permanant and can fall out on us, either by a really good tug or because the balloon has worn down, gotten a hole or deflated. This tube is held in by a balloon behind the abdomen wall, which is inflated with water. Once a week we have to check to make sure there is still the right amount of water in the balloon. On the right you see a picture of what the Mickey looks like when not inserted. The balloon is blown up with air on the picture, but air would not hold once inside the stomach so water is used. The Mickey has two wonderful features ... first, the obvious, it doesn't have the extension of tube hanging off the belly all the time (which we always had to tape to his stomach); second, it has a check valve that prevents backflow ... so if the cap accidently opens (and yes that has happened) we don't have James stomach contents all over the place. In order to feed James we have to hook up a special extension tube to the Mickey button, which sort of functions like a key to open up the valve.

That being said, so far James isn't all to impressed with his fancy new tube. He cries when we try to feed him and says "no, no". He has even pushed my hand away in the middle of his sleep when I tried to hook him up for his night feed. We do not see any signs to be concerned about and are assuming that he is experiencing some discomfort and pain with the healing from the change over and the adjustment of how the new tube hangs and puts pressure on his stomach when being fed. He is completely happy when he is not hooked up and plays as if nothing is wrong, so it seems his stomach just has to toughen up and adjust to this change. Our little trooper keeps trooping!! :)