James and his NG Tube

It took us (mom and dad) a month (and thousands of pesos later) of going to and from the hospital to have James' NGT (nasogastric tube) inserted in the ER before we mustered the courage to attempt learning how to insert the scary 24 inch tube into James' nose straight to his stomach.

Notice Daddy and Mommy's MacGyverisms:

-- clipping the hard round core of a roll of electrical tape to the wall so that the 60cc syringe can be hanged instead of tying up hands that are also pouring the formula during feeding

-- using the rubber part of medicine droppers to cover the exposed end of the tube instead of taping it closed after every feeding

-- making use of safety pins to attach the coiled tube to James' shirt so it doesn't get caught (and pulled!) in anything when he's moving a lot

Trivias:

-- James used NGTs for feeding from Feb 2002 to June 2005. We didn't know (none of our doctors told us until we consulted a new gastroenterologist in Jan 2005!) that in the US, the standard recommendation for the tube's use is only 3 months maximum due to the dangers of infection. Blessedly, aside from frequent vomiting spells (tube "tickles" the throat when patient swallows ergo the urge to throw up) James' didn't develop any serious complications.

-- NGTs must be secured by leukoplast tapes to James' nose and cheek so it won't be pulled out easily. He usually cried when we had to remove an old tube :( We had to replace tubes every two weeks so Daddy buys the tubes, gloves and lubricating jelly in Bambang in bulk to save money.

Comments

Playing with Flash Cards

James loves words and letters. He enjoys being read to. He likes it when he hears people singing the alphabet or speaking in rhymes. He particularly gets excited when we show him big, bold letters on flash cards. The other night, Daddy and James played with letters. Our little boy seemed to have enjoyed seeing his name spelled out on the mat.

Wishlists for James

As many parents who have children with special needs know, it is sometimes very hard to find or buy supplies for our kids that we can afford. As such, if you know of people who are disposing the following items either through donations or discounted prices, do let us know. We would appreciate the help very much. All photos you can see here are: 1. Formulas for tube-feeding that would greatly help James get the special nutrition he needs 2. Special needs equipment that would make him more comfortable and which would help us take care of him better *items are updated as the need for them arise

Wonderful Blue Roses

I received this as a forwarded email earlier today. It's so good not to share. I'm sure not only families with Blue Roses like ours could appreciate this but also the Dandelions out there who only need a reminder to, every now and then, stop and smell the roses, especially the rare and very special ones :) == BLUE ROSES Why do I always have to be the one that starts to do laundry and there's no detergent? Well, I guess it was time for me to do my store run, which included light bulbs, paper towels, trash bags and Clorox. So off I go. I scurried around the store, gathered up my goodies, and headed for the checkout counter only to be blocked in the narrow aisle by a young man that appeared to be about sixteen-years-old. I wasn't in a hurry, so I patiently waited for the boy to realize that I was there. This was when he waved his hands excitedly in the air and declared in a loud voice, "Mommy, I'm over here." photo borrowed from rosepi...

Gideon James' Journey

Search This Blog