Shiny New Button

Post date: Jul 23, 2009 11:59:39 PM

Connor has a pretty new button! Ok, well, maybe that's not quite accurate. It's not really shiny (it's plastic) and it's not really that pretty (except for pretty interesting if you're into that), but it IS a new button - G-button, that is.

Yes, last Thursday late afternoon we unhooked him from his feeding tube only to find that we couldn't close his G-button. The plastic plug on the flap had fallen off somehow. His G-button was broken and there was no way to close the opening. "Oh my gosh, what does this mean?!" you ask? Well, it apparently really isn't that big a deal. "It happens all the time," is what we were told.

We called home health and the nurse told us to call our pediatrician in the morning. We called our pediatrician in the morning and the office told us to call his GI doctor. We called his GI doctor and her office told us to call his surgeon. We called the surgeon and his office said, "Hmm. It's Friday morning. I can get you an appointment on Monday afternoon."

I said, "Monday afternoon? That's several days from now. We can't close the opening to his stomach and his contents are leaking. I have a leaky baby."

She said, "Tape it close."

So that's what we did for three days. Well, we MacGyver'ed a plug and then taped that to his G-button for three days. Then I took him to the surgeon on Monday and he replaced the broken one with a new one.

This time, it's a different model and manufacturer, with some pros and cons over the one he had previously. The next time he wears his G-button out or it breaks, we'll be able to replace it ourselves at home. (That's a pro, in case you are wondering.) Other pros are that it has a locking mechanism to keep the feeding tube attached to the button - before we taped the heck out of the tubing to keep it hooked on. The con is that this one has a bigger profile (read: it sticks out more and gets in the way of clothes and rolling over). Also, it tends to wear out faster and so may cost more if we have to replace it more frequently. We're going to try it out for now and see how we like it. So far, so good.

"How did the replacement go? Did he have to have surgery?"

"Well," and "no."

Mr. Surgeon wasn't even dressed in scrubs. He came in with the replacement button. We untaped the massive ball of tape we had wound around Connor to keep his leakage to a minimum and then he popped the old button out and stuck in a new one.

When I say, "popped," that's exactly what I mean. He grabbed the button and popped it out like a cork. It even made the "pop" sound. Connor was startled, cried a bit, and then calmed down. Dr. Surgeon said it feels like stubbing your toe. Not ever having had a G-button himself, I'm not sure how he knows this. However, bowing to his greater wisdom and experience (and the fact that Connor was no longer screaming), I nodded my head and said "thank you."

And that is the story of how Connor got a new button. :-)

On other fronts, everyone is doing well. Connor is his usually happy self. Big brother is getting a bit bored with the freedom of summer, although he is in a summer camp this week and enjoying that. It's the usual, crazy, busy, crazy household. Things are normal. That is nice.

'Til next time... :-)