Anthony – and his Intestines – Moving Forward

Anthony is making nice progress. It’s hard to believe he was on death’s door a week ago today.

Last night he started on small amounts of g-tube feedings at 10cc per hour. He tolerated that and is now getting 20cc per hour. He also had a bowel movement last night, so looks like things are moving along the GI tract.

We are not sure when he will be able to get another GJ-tube. This is a question for the surgeon. I assume he will want to be sure Anthony is well healed before placing another tube. In fact, we’d like to try going back to the g-tube, perhaps at a slower rate and different formula. We don’t want to risk aspiration, but we are also not keen on another GJ-tube. He is also still getting TPN via the central line.

Anthony had a renal ultra sound last night because of blood in his urine and a high BP while in the PICU. We expect that to be normal as his urine is now clear and his BP is fine.

Anthony has a congested cough, but he is moving air well and his O2 saturations are fine. We are not sure if the cough is just typical post-op stuff or aspiration. Hard to tell. Of course reflux and the danger of aspiration was the reason for the GJ-tube to begin with. We’ll see how it goes. But this will likely be addressed by weighing the pros and cons; benefits and risks…