Feeling so fly like a G-Tube

     I love to fish.  To me, it's a fun weekend activity to get your gear, hop in your boat, and just relax out on the lake.  You throw your line in the water and just wait for the fish.  Whether you are using a bobber, a spinner, fly fishing, or I guess even spear fishing, you are waiting in the boat or on the shoreline for that keeper to come along.  While you wait, there's not much going on (which some call relaxing while others call it boring).  Then, suddenly and usually without notice, it gets exciting!  When the fish takes your hook you immediately change your posture and in most cases your tone and work to reel the fish in.  Even the toughest skeptic can't deny that catching that big fish in is exciting.  Being in the NICU, much like fishing, is a waiting game.  Over the past few weeks, there hasn't been much going on in Jude's world.  It's been well over a month since his big surgery.  It's been weeks since he had his corrective brace off.  So, like fisherman, we've been just sitting and waiting for the next exciting moment to come along.  And again, like fishing those moments come without notice.
     We've been talking with doctors for a few weeks now about Jude getting a Gastrostomy Tube (feeding tube) aka G-Tube as it's often abbreviated.  We have been talking with doctors about this before Jude was born, so we knew that someday it would be coming.  In the past few weeks, we've began talking more and more about his need for a G-Tube and the possibility of that procedure happening at some time in the near future (we have learned from the NICU that the "near future" is a loose term.  It's like when a wife asks her husband when he is going to get that Honey Do List done and he answers "sometime in the near future."  That could mean when this tv show is over that I'm watching or after I am done voting in the next presidential election.)  Needless to say, we have learned not to put a lot of stock in terms like "the near future."  But we were surprised today when a doctor popped into our pod today and told us that he had reserved a spot for Jude to have the G-Tube surgery this Wednesday at 7:30 am.  One of our doctors had said she was hoping to consult this week about the G-Tube but we had no idea it would move this quick.  So, like a fisherman jerked from his afternoon nap by a big fish, we were now consenting to a surgery less than 48 hours away.
     For those who are not familiar, a G-Tube is a tube that is inserted into the stomach through the abdomen that a person can receive liquid foods through it (for those wanting extra knowledge, the words Gastrostomy Tube above are a hyperlink taking you to an informational website).  In addition to the G-Tube, however, Jude will also be receiving a Fundoplication procedure or Fundo for short.  A fundo is a procedure in which the upper part of the stomach is wrapped around a part of the esophagus.  This creates a tunnel out of the stomach the esophagus must then pass through and strengthens the muscles of the esophagus associated with preventing reflux.  This procedure is necessary because Jude has a problem with reflux due to trauma caused to his hard and soft pallets from the taratoma.  Left untreated, Jude would probably reflux constantly and would therefore not only stop getting nutrition that he desperately needs but could create serious issues with aspiration pneumonia which is caused by fluids traveling back up his tube and then down his bronchial passage into his lungs.  Either way you slice it, chronic reflux with a trached baby is bad news.  So, Jude will have both procedures done laparoscopically by making a small incision in his belly button and four others, two on each side of his abdomen.
     So, we are once again taken from our time spent just waiting in the boat to the excitement of fighting that fish (figuratively of course).  The procedures are not terribly risky, however, with Jude there are some increased risks due to his blood clotting treatments he's been getting as far as bleeding is concerned.  And as always, there's risk involved with any surgery especially when your baby has to be fully anesthetized.  Prayers are always appreciated.  We are much less nervous for this procedure than the last but at least for myself, there's still that unnerving feeling when your baby goes in for surgery.  We are so grateful that God is moving and hopefully soon so will Jude.  These procedures take Jude one step closer to getting healthy enough to leave the hospital.  Once they are complete, we need only work on his PDA (Patent Ductus Arteriosus) but that is for another blog...

To God be the Glory,

Chris