Weaning off the TPN and talk of a PEG tube

September 1, 2011

This was the day that I had a conversation with the doctor that apparently not many moms have.  I decided that Keean should get a more permanent feeding tube placed.  This would mean Keean would have a hole put in his stomach and a tube going directly into his stomach instead of up his nose and down his throat.  Keean threw up a lot with the tube in his throat all the time.  I don't blame him.  I would gag and throw up too if something was continuously tickling my throat.  So, when I brought this up with the nurse she was a little surprised.  She said she has never had a mom come to her and request one before (and she had been a nurse for longer than I had been alive).  She said moms are typically hesitant and scared.
Well.  I'm not going to lie.  I was a little nervous, but I had nothing to be scared about.  I was actually excited.  The only thing I was scared for was the procedure itself.  I hate when they put him under.  I knew that Keean was going to need a feeding tube for a longer period of time than a few weeks.  I knew that the one he had down his throat wasn't working well at all and I knew that it was in his best interest to get one. I wanted to have it done while we were still there so we could learn how to use it and adjust to life with a tubie (this is what we call our kids with feeding tubes)!  Having a PEG tube placed meant they wanted to keep Keean on his TPN  (IV nutrition) line in longer because after you have this procedure done, you can't use the tube for 24 hours.  They were in the process of weaning Keean off the TPN which they continued to do, but kept the line there so when he went with no food, he could continue to get calories.  The doctor was excited that we were so open to doing all of this.  I was too.  They said that it would most likely mean that home was in our near future if everything went well. At this point, Keean was completely off TPN and was tolerating full feeds through his tube.  This was more than exciting for us.  He hadn't tolerated full feeds since we were admitted.  He was gaining weight without the TPN and strictly by formula!  This was actually more than exciting.  This was HUGE!  We were finally able to have a little hope again.  PEG tube placement surgery was scheduled for 1030am on September 6, 2011.