On August 3, 2011 Bailey went into surgery and the PEG was placed. She no longer has a long tube dangling from her nose, around her shoulders, and resting on her chest. Now a hole goes straight into her tummy through the abdomen wall. Her PEG will be in place until October 5, 2011 at which time, it will be removed and replaced with a mickey button. After she has her mickey button, I will be able to change the button monthly on my own.
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| Bailey's PEG |
Bailey's next concern came out while trolling the hospital corridor. She started thinking about the tube and what that would mean for her physical appearance. She says to me, " I guess I won't be able to model with this feeding tube." I assured here that with todays technology modeling should not be a problem. A photographer could either decide to leave the tube in the picture or airbrush it out. The next morning, I took my own modeling picture of Bailey and her tube. I chose to leave the PEG visible in the picture. Why should she have to be shy or embarrassed about it. She is beautiful and the PEG cannot take that away.
For now, Bailey seems to be adjusting to the tube well. They set us up with a feeding pump at the hospital and I really prefer that over gravity feds. Unfortunately, over the last week she has started vomiting again. We are not sure why yet but suspect that acid reflux is the cause. We are working on becoming more consistent with her reflux meds and hope that makes the difference. As of today, Bailey has stopped eating nearly all food and relies strictly on formula for nutrition. After trying three different formulas, Neocate Junior with probiotics ended up being the one she could tolerate. She is currently taking 50 ounces per day through the tube. Bailey currently weighs 64 pounds. Her optimal weight is 81 pounds. She has grown 3 inches since she stopped eating food. We have a long road ahead of us. This is just the beginning of our journey.
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