Recovery And Feeding Tube

Jack is recovering well from Monday's feeding tube surgery. His stomach was a bit sore, but is better now. He went to school for a few hours on Friday, and will go back tomorrow morning. 

We took a nice walk at Toys R'Us and PetSmart. We like to look at Lego sets and Predator figures, and then see what kittens are available for adoption. We were both impressed with a tarantula and a scorpion they had at PetSmart. 

When we came back home, we had some grapes, and then he rode his bike up the sidewalk a few times. (He sat on a bike at Toys R'Us and decided he would ride his when we got back.)

Nightly feelings are going well overall. He gets about 500-550 calories without problems. (As opposed to the nose tube from a few months ago, which kept plugging up, and coming out of his nose. Not to mention all the anxiety over re-inserting it, and throwing up.)

He does wake up a few times a night (screaming) if he sleeps on the new one, or if it gets sweaty, but he goes right back to sleep, so it's not a big deal. 

Today, I'm grateful for:

- the tube supplying much needed calories. Hoping to see some weight gain in a week or so. 

- Jack feeling strong enough to go for a walk and ride his bike. 

- a break from the rain, allowing us to go out and get moving. 

Surgery #10

Jack had a G tube (gastrostomy tube) put in today at Children's. It's like button tubbing inserted through the abdomen that delivers nutrition directly to the stomach. Jack will get supplemental feedings at night to help him gain some weight. Little dude is still at 40lbs. The surgeon also did a rigid sigmoidoscopy making sure there isn't a blockage around the colon, as this is what all the X-rays and CT scans were showing. Well, there is a blockage, lots of scar tissue from both the removal of the tumor and radiation treatment which has blocked a good portion of the colon. So today the surgeon dilated the colon to 1.5 cm. He has another surgery scheduled June 4 to do another dilation, hoping to slowly get the colon back to its normal size. If the colon has shrunk back and didn't stay dilated, the surgeon talked about more of a in-depth surgery. (It's a pretty complicated surgery and fingers crossed we don't have to go down that road.) (There are other options too, from possibly just using laxatives to keep his stools soft, to maybe placing a stent. We'll see if dilations "stick".) 

Jack is doing okay this evening, the local numbing cream has worn off and his stomach is pretty tender. He has some pretty good pain meds that are keeping the pain down. They are planning on starting a feeding tonight at 10pm, so hope that goes okay through the night and his stomach doesn't get upset. It's been a long day, a 1.5 hour surgery turned into 2.5 hours and mom and Jack are both tired. The plan is to go home Tuesday morning. No school for a few days, just going to lay low and heal.