How Getty Eats
From Mark:
I have been getting questions as to how Getty eats now that she has a G-Tube. It’s pretty simple, really. Getty can still take formula orally if we choose to do so. However, oral feeds are risky because her swallow function is not 100% and formula could end up in her lungs that way. So, we got her a G-Tube.
We also got her a Nissen procedure. The Nissen does not close her esophagus. It just makes it a bit tighter to help prevent food from coming out of her stomach, potentially ending up in her lungs.
Here’s how she eats:
1. Make baby formula, as usual.
2. Pour the formula into the feeding bag. The feeding bag has a tube coming out of the bottom, which leads down to the blue box, which is a feeding pump. The pump then pumps the formula further down the tube toward Getty’s little tummy.
3. Here is the purple tapered tip of the feeding tube coming from the feeding pump.
4. Here is Getty’s G-Tube also called a “button.” It’s just a little tube that leads inside her stomach. It has a little rubber cap on it to keep it closed. The little bandages on her tummy will fall off in a couple weeks or so.
5. This is the end of a short tube that plugs directly into to the G-Tube opening.
6. Just open the G-Tube and plug the short tube in.
7. Connect the opposite end of the short tube with the purple tip of the feeding tube coming from the feeding pump.
8. Activate the feeding pump, and Getty is a happy little owl.
There’s a bit more to it, but those are the basics.
26
Nov
2010
2 Comments
Nov
2010
2 Comments
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The is an education for all of us. Bless her little heart!
My beloved husband had his 3rd stroke in Sept 2001; it hit smack on the speech center, which also controls swallowing. He had a g-tube inserted. I brought him home in late December 2001 and was instructed that he should always be at 45° during feeding, preferably 90°. He received bolus feedings (8 oz formula +500 ml water per feed), I assume Getty receives a slow drip so she may not need to be so upright. The tube had to be replaced approx every 2 years because the silicone would begin to break down. Also, please be very gentle with the cap – they break off quickly. Sadly he died a year ago. But the g-tube allowed him to have proper nutrition and hydration for eight years.