I spent two days in the hospital after the procedure placing my feeding tube. Apparently, Dr. Handsome and I had entirely different definitions of 'outpatient procedure'. I realize I'm a complete wuss, and my pain tolerance is practically in the negatives, however; I just refused to go home before I could get out of the bed by myself. When I went home, and my sweet mother came to get Jace and took him home to Ward, AR with her. My (ex)MIL came to spend the days until Josh returned helping me get around. After I returned home, I was assigned a second home health nurse, Andrèa, to help me take care of the feeding tube. I was so nervous once I got home because, frankly, I was not ready to accept the fact that I had a rubber pipe sticking out of my side. I mean seriously, the thing looked like it belonged under a sink!
I have to say that Andrèa was the most fantastic nurse I could have asked for. She came the day I was discharged and showed me how to load the 'food', which really just looked like a Boost shake, into the bag, adjust the speed in which the 'food' would pump, and attach it to my tube. The entire process was quite disgusting. I could share more details on how it worked, and the maintenance, however, I'll spare you the nastiness. I used to be quite squeamish about everything, but after my experience, I'm pretty sure I could be a nurse. In fact, I may go back to school to do just that, ah, I digress...
Andrèa was a tall, red-headed woman with a big personality and an infectious laugh. I have no doubt that she was specifically chosen for me. It was no picnic to be hooked to a PICC line in my arm and the J-tube in my side while trying to grow two tiny humans. And she was generous. So very generous! She came back for the next four days to help me dress/undress and wash my hair so that I didn't have to over share with my then, mother in law. Have I mentioned that I no longer know the meaning of the word 'modest'? Yes, she was a stranger, but I encourage you to take a moment and consider who you would rather share your goodies with: trained nurse hired to care for you VS mother in law... No brainer here!
So, on to my daily routines: fill zofran pump and set speed, unhook PICC line from zofran to hook up 2 bags of fluids and puke, well, dry heave entire time without zofran. Fill feeding pump 6 times/day with Boost-like shake, clean rubber tube twice daily, and remove nasty around the open wound where tube came out. Wanna get out of the house? No problem! I had a trendy fanny pack for my PICC line meds and an even better BACKPACK (I kid you not) to carry my 'food' around. I have no photos, but I guarantee, I looked HOT! <---sarcasm br="">
I have to admit, after a few days of not eating or drinking, you MISS it! I'm talking obsessive need to chew and swallow. Was I hungry? Nope. Thirsty? Nope. I got the genius idea that chewing some gum would satisfy my desires. Bahahaha! After I chomped down, just once, the heaving began. So, I learned that caving to my cravings was not worth the consequences.
Lucky for me, I only had to endure the tube for ten weeks!
I have to say that Andrèa was the most fantastic nurse I could have asked for. She came the day I was discharged and showed me how to load the 'food', which really just looked like a Boost shake, into the bag, adjust the speed in which the 'food' would pump, and attach it to my tube. The entire process was quite disgusting. I could share more details on how it worked, and the maintenance, however, I'll spare you the nastiness. I used to be quite squeamish about everything, but after my experience, I'm pretty sure I could be a nurse. In fact, I may go back to school to do just that, ah, I digress...
Andrèa was a tall, red-headed woman with a big personality and an infectious laugh. I have no doubt that she was specifically chosen for me. It was no picnic to be hooked to a PICC line in my arm and the J-tube in my side while trying to grow two tiny humans. And she was generous. So very generous! She came back for the next four days to help me dress/undress and wash my hair so that I didn't have to over share with my then, mother in law. Have I mentioned that I no longer know the meaning of the word 'modest'? Yes, she was a stranger, but I encourage you to take a moment and consider who you would rather share your goodies with: trained nurse hired to care for you VS mother in law... No brainer here!
So, on to my daily routines: fill zofran pump and set speed, unhook PICC line from zofran to hook up 2 bags of fluids and puke, well, dry heave entire time without zofran. Fill feeding pump 6 times/day with Boost-like shake, clean rubber tube twice daily, and remove nasty around the open wound where tube came out. Wanna get out of the house? No problem! I had a trendy fanny pack for my PICC line meds and an even better BACKPACK (I kid you not) to carry my 'food' around. I have no photos, but I guarantee, I looked HOT! <---sarcasm br="">
I have to admit, after a few days of not eating or drinking, you MISS it! I'm talking obsessive need to chew and swallow. Was I hungry? Nope. Thirsty? Nope. I got the genius idea that chewing some gum would satisfy my desires. Bahahaha! After I chomped down, just once, the heaving began. So, I learned that caving to my cravings was not worth the consequences.
Lucky for me, I only had to endure the tube for ten weeks!
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