J-Tube Study

Well, much to our surprise, we managed to get the J-Tube Study done today. The results show that the tube is in proper place and they do not see any problems with it.

James did well for the study. I was worried how things would go and how this would effect tomorrow's CT Scan, but I think it went okay and hopefully will be helpful for tomorrow. I got the typical repetative "no hurt, no hurt" already before we arrived at the hospital (before the hospital was even in view and I even took a different way then normal). The "no hurt, not hurt" continued on as we arrived, checked in, and waited. Finally he was distracted by someplaying and colouring ... only to start again when they brought us to another waiting room. And then when we finally got in for the test it was in the same room where they originally put the j-tube in ... where they attempted to sedate him and later had to put him completely under by general anesthetic ... so of course he paniced. But even though he cried through the whole thing and continued to say "no hurt, no hurt"... and it broke my heart listening to him ... he did lay completely still. The test was quick and did not hurt, just as I promised.

I told them right away that if they needed to pull the tube we wanted a G-tube put in, not a J. So then I had to explain why I wanted this. They did the test and found everything okay and then consulted with the GI Doctor because I had said I wanted the J-tube removed. He gave the go ahead to do this, but unfortunately (and fortunately) the could not do it today. Why they couldn't have just given the go ahead before we did the test is beyond me.

They could not do it because they explained that since James' J-tube had only been in a short while they have to do a different/longer procedure to put the G-tube back in and they did not have time today. I did not totally understand the reasoning behind this (the trouble with foreigners who cannot clearly explain things to you). He talked about the stomach collapsing because the J-tube was in less then 3 months. I'm not sure if this would happen when you pull the tube or when you put a g-tube in. Regardless it seems it's a good thing we didn't manage to get the tube out on our own last week. He did say that there is nothing behind the balloon and likely James' hole just closed up a bit too much and they'll have to give a good tug to get the J-tube out. This is where it's fortunate that they couldn't take it out today. If James had been "hurt" today he would have no faith in us tomorrow and would definitely not cooperate for the CT Scan. So they are going to call us back and hopefully get us in sometime next week to do the switch back to a G-tube.

Tomorrow is our big day off to Toronto for another CT Scan and an evaluation of James' treatment. As mentioned before this CT Scan will be done unsedated and we will only get results if James lays still long enough for the pictures. If he does as he did today then we should be able to get some good pictures. Please pray for James ... that the test may go well and most of all that we may receive favourable results regarding his treatment.