Gabriel has been having some issues with his G-tube. Medically it is VERY minor. Over the Christmas break we noticed some redness and he was reporting some pain. We did the things we knew to troubleshoot the redness at home (neosporin, cleaning the area really well, removing and reinserting the mic-key). He is a super tough dude so we took it seriously when he said it was hurting. We ended up at URGENT care on January 1 (Happy New Year!) thinking it was an infection and we just needed an anti-biotic.

We were wrong. It seems he just needed the mic-key button resized. The one he had didn’t fit correctly anymore, stomach fluids were leaking out and causing irritation. We waited out the weekend and met with the surgery clinic on Monday. He received the new size and everything should have been good to go.

Unfortunately, He is still reporting pain and is very sensitive to letting us touch it at all. It looks less red every day but the poor kid has been walking around like a post surgery patient trying to protect his abdomen. It has been taxing on us emotionally because he is reacting in fear and frustration everytime we give meds. It is so hard because he absolutely refuses to take medicine by mouth, one the main reasons he has the G-tube is from the pneumonia caused by aspirating on medicine when we were syringing it down his throat.

I am praying that it stops hurting and he becomes more willing to allow us to give him medicine very soon. The G-tube has been a God send to us. Not having to wrestle him daily just to make sure he gets the medicine he needs has been wonderful. I had forgotten how emotionally taxing it was to negotiate medicine 3 times a day but find myself back there. It is better because at least I’m not worried about causing pneumonia or his choking or gagging his meds back up but it is hard on this mama’s heart.