The feeding is easy, the maintenance a chore. Now, here's the flip side of g-tube feeding. See the red growth (it's called granulation) around the button?
That has to be kept dry as much as possible. Problem is, the button leaks. (This is the downside of the BARD button). Milk dribbles out after a feed and the gauze has to be changed after every feed. Milk and wetness can cause bacteria to grow around the area. It has to be thoroughly cleaned and antacid powder (grounded anti-gas pills) dabbed around it. According to her surgeon, this reddish growth is normal and actually pretty minimal. It's the body's way of reacting to a foreign body. (Sorry body, it's not gonna go away, so you might as well get used to it.) Hopefully it doesn't grow any bigger. If it grows out of proportion, they actually have to 'burn' it away with silver nitrate. And we don't want another hospital visit do we, Vera?So, gauze days are here to stay. Cut gauze, change gauze, cut more gauze, change gauze again...you get the picture. This is where I take my hat off to nurses.
3 comments:
I am glad to hear that the g-tube feeds are going good! It was such a relief to us when our Peanut got her g-tube. The care will get easier as time goes by. :)
You might ask the GI or surgeon about putting a steroid cream on the granulation. We use Lidex on ours when it starts to form. It is so very rare now, but her tube site is 5 years old. It's much less traumatic than the silver nitrate sticks!
thanks for the tip, mom of peanut :)
Danielle's button used to have the same granulation & leaking problem. We almost need to give her the sticks :p After putting 2 layers of gauze (which gave sufficient pressure on the button)both problems stopped. Now we change her gauze 3 times aday with plenty of antacid powder around the button. I will try to upload Dan's button on my blog. Rebekah.
Post a Comment