Feeding Tube

Today was a more stressful day. It started last night. By the time she went to bed yesterday, she had only drank about 12 oz of water and 12 oz of ensure. This was considerably less than what they want her to drink, and it was also quite a bit less than what she did the day before (which was only half of what they wanted then too).

She went from doing pretty okay, mentally/emotionally, to kind of all of a sudden switching to being really lethargic, dizzy, and overall very different. I called the nurse to come and do vitals because Emma wasn’t acting normal, and about 10 seconds later, three nurses ran into the room. I felt a mix of silly (I was really expecting just one nurse) and thankful they do what they do. They don’t kid around. Her vitals were fine. She went to sleep about an hour later, completely exhausted.

Then she slept for about 13-14 hours today and has been exhausted all day. She only managed to drink about 4 swallows of water today and couldn’t take her medication. She felt really sick. She was also stumbling some when walking (she holds onto me now) and was too weak to do anything on her own. I assume this will get better as they get more food I her.

The hem/onc came in and ordered an NJ tube to be placed, an IV started, and then switched her from erythromycin to reglan, in case, in addition to her need for nutrition, the medication was contributing to her changed behavior. (NJ tube goes through her nose and ends just outside of the bottom of her stomach, bypassing the stomach altogether).

So, all of those things happened. The radiologist, who placed the feeding tube, used a thingy that allowed her to watch what was going on inside while she did it. She kept commenting on how dissented Emma’s stomach is. :( And since things take a while in the hospital sometimes, it wasn’t until about 7pm that we finally got fluids running in her IV and nutrition going in her NJ tube.

Due to how little her stomach can tolerate, and due to how little we know about her intestines, they’re starting at 10 ml an hour for 12 hours, then will increase by 10 mls. I believe they said ultimately they want her going at 40 mls an hour.

Then she slept for about 13-14 hours today and has been exhausted all day. She only managed to drink about 4 swallows of water today and couldn’t take her medicationShe felt really sick. She was also stumbling some when walking (she holds onto me now) and was too weak to do anything on her own. I assume this will get better as they get more food in her.

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