Endoscopy Results + Some...

Hello There!

     My endoscopy went well.  The anesthesia team did very well with me, and I woke up normally.  My stoma (hole for feeding tube) is completely healed, so she okayed me to go back to normal care! :)  After my last update, my tube began acting as though it had flipped into my stomach again, and when my GI did the endoscopy she found that it was all coiled in my stomach instead of being in my intestines where it belongs.  So she went ahead and put it back in place while she was in there.  It worked great for my meds the next morning but by that evening it wasn't working so amazing.  It feels as though it is, yet again, coiled in the stomach instead of being in the intestines.  Rrrgh!  I have an appointment to get my GJ tube checked tomorrow morning at 8:30.  If it is out of place again (of which I'm certain!) they will have to replace it and put it back where it belongs.  This will make the 3rd time within 2 weeks for my tube to be put back where it belongs.  Did I hear someone say superglue??! ;)  I am grateful that at least it isn't any serious complication that requires anesthesia to fix...just a little discomfort and pain and then its over.  It has been a bit humorous how many times I've been questioned by doctors, nurses, techs, and scheduling staff as to whether or not I can do it without anesthesia.  See, the times I had anesthesia due to painful complications with my tube they've just put it under the regular "feeding tube exchange" in the records without an explanation.  So they see "feeding tube exchange" with anesthesia and automatically think I have to have anesthesia for every tube change.  I'd hate to say how many times I have explained those instances where I had to have anesthesia and inform them that under normal circumstances I'm not knocked out.......that would be nice though! LOL! ;)

Never a dull moment in my life!  I actually wonder what a dull moment actually feels like......;)

Taking Life One Crazy Adventure at a Time,

                                                        Allison

Hi friends!

        Since my last update I was admitted to the hospital once due to my feeding tube falling out in the middle of the night since my GI said to deflate the balloon to help my stomach heal.  Yeah, not smart!  The stoma (hole for feeding tube) had shrunk so far that I could only get a tiny trach tubing (that my home health nurse brought from an emergency trach kit) into the stoma to hold it open.  SO, over 48hrs after losing my tube, I got it replaced.  Anesthesia didn't pretreat me before putting me under, which resulted in me not waking up even to painful stimuli (or so they tell me) until they gave me rescue meds.  It's pretty amazing how IV benadryl can wake a body up after anesthesia!  What happens is the mast cells in my body release mediators that can cause me to be sedated and the only way to reverse that is by giving me Benadryl.  If I hadn't woke up when I did, they were going to transfer me from the observation unit to the ICU step down to give me epinephrine.  Thankfully, my body did respond, and I woke up.....with my mom and my nurse both standing over my bed staring at me! LOL!  I tell you - there are few things that are more confusing than waking up to that without a clue of what had been going on!  The next day, I was well enough to return home with a good working tube.

On the 3rd of October, I went to give myself my morning oral meds through my GJ tube, and it felt as though the portion that is supposed to be in my intestines had maneuvered into my stomach (I react to my meds and formula when they are put in my stomach instead of my intestines).  I got it checked on Wednesday and it was indeed in the wrong place as I had predicted.  So, I got my tube changed out to a longer one and put back in place.  So far it's been working well.

I have an Endoscopy on Tuesday (17th) at 7:30am (arrival at 6:00am) to check up on my stoma to see how it is healing after the whole ordeal with the suspected ulcer and the balloon being lodged in the abdominal wall.  If it is healing properly I'm hoping I'll get to change the care back to normal.  Right now I have to inflate the balloon that holds the tube in place for nighttime and deflate the balloon during the day.  I have to keep the tube pushed way in at all times to keep all pressure off the abdominal wall, change the dressing 3 times a day, and keep the tube taped down good so I don't lose it again.  This irritates the skin on my tummy, and its just a big hassle.  If it isn't healing properly, I don't really know for sure what the outcome will be.  I'm guessing a whole new placement of a tube which would mean surgery, but it may be that my GI just says to give it some more time.  Anyways, just pray anesthesia does things right this time and doesn't goof up again!  I do not need them, once again, forgetting to pretreat!

Well, You probably won't hear from me until after I have the results from my endoscopy.

Thanks for your prayers!
Allison