Coincidence??

Today James went in to have his J-tube removed and a G-tube put back in. I must say I was dreading this appointment but it went much better then expected.

After having tried to pull the J-tube ourselves and being unsuccessful I was worried about how much it would hurt James to get it out. It seems that we just needed to be a bit braver and tug a bit harder and we would have had it out on our own. Once the balloon was deflated it bunched up a bit at the bottom and that's why we had trouble getting it out, a good tug and it was through. Radiology did use a guide wire when taking it out, we're guessing this was to help prevent any sort of shifting of his stomach while it was being done. Whatever the case we're now back to a g-tube ... again our nice Mic-Key Button kind. Upon looking at the size of the tube that they withdrew from James' stomach it's no wonder the child was moaning and complaning, it was much larger then the first j-tube they put in ... quite large for such a little guy.

A couple hours later James asked for a cracker from his diaper bag and then proceeded to actually put it in his mouth ... not just a lick, not just one bite ... he ate half the cracker. A hour later he sat down for snack with the girls and ate a few rice krispies and drank some juice. At supper time he asked for Ranch Salad dressing, licking the lid when finished pouring it and judging from what was on his face he also licked up some of what he put on his plate. He had some rice, eating one piece at a time ... only amounting to maybe 10 little pieces, but they went in his mouth and he didn't spit them out again. To the average person this means nothing, but to us it's a big step for a boy who we flood with praise when he takes a tiny nibble or lick of something. All this in one afternoon after two months of refusing to touch food, only occasionally licking something and seldom swallowing it, with the occasional sips of juice. Coincidence?? Only time will tell.

We continue to remain thankful for the surgical backlog when we were in hospital. If there had not been a backlog James would of ended up with a fundoplication instead of just a j-tube. He went through alot to have the j-tube placed, but it was a reversible treatment ... the fundoplication would not have been. Time and again we are reminded of how good it is that this surgery did not happen ... especially in light of James' daily vomitting, which a fundo would make very difficult to almost impossible, never mind how painful. Only with time will we be able to tell if the move back to a g-tube was a good move, but we are quite confident that we've made the right decision.

Speaking of vomitting ... for over a week now James is no longer vomitting daily in the mornings. We have had several vomitting episodes. A couple in the late evening after he receives his last medication for the day (on a bright note when given it tonight he didn't even moan, cry or move ... something he always did before). We're not sure what brings on the late night episodes. A few other episodes happened after he got overly worked up, from being hurt or disciplined. But it seems that this situation is getting better ... of course we were never really able to determine if it was a good or bad thing ... good because he's getting rid of the stuff in his lungs ... bad because, well, why was it happening?

And now I must get to bed for some of that much desired and often lacking sleep.