After nine years, Ellis is getting her g-tube removed this afternoon! It’s been a long, frustrating, and arduous journey with it since it was required for additional nutritional needs and for emergencies with medication and fluids. One of our kitchen closets used to be full with Pediasure cans, syringes, IV pole and bags, feeding pump, and extension lines. When Elliot was a young, he used to draw stick people with a big belly and one gigantic belly button. Maybe he thought it was strange that Ellis had this extra plastic button on her belly. If I can find an old drawing of that, I’ll post it later.
So much of that hectic phase of life is over, and we are ultra grateful for the health progress she has made. When she was three years old, I had the feeding pump placed on her blankie on a dresser which Ellis wanted for sleeping and I was next to her on the floor. I pulled the blankie off the table and that solid piece of machine, with a metal hole in the back for connecting to the IV pole, fell on top of my nose. It led to an ER visit and hairline nose fracture. Countless nights, I slept with the constant sound of the milk winding through the tube countless night, alarm sounding from kinked lines, and waking up to milk spilled out of the tube onto the blankets and an upset child. It’s been a physically messy and emotionally exhausting journey!!
Thank the Lord we survived those days and have now a positive story to tell about it! Here we go…in about an hour it’ll be out. Bye!!
43 responses to “Big day for Ellis”
That’s wonderful news, Esther. You are an amazing Mum 🤗🩷
Joe, that is so sweet of you to say!! Thank you.
I hope the procedure goes well, Esther. We will be sending good thoughts for you and your family. 🥰
Thank you, TD! We finally considered taking it out last December ’22, and we did it this month. Happy to have that part of life behind us.
Best wishes!
I sometimes forget the name of your children 😛
Now I will remember
Thank you, Devang! The Dynamic Duo says,”hello!”
FGW says heyo
Hi hi!!
You better sleep
It must be late night there
It’s 6:30 p.m and time for dinner! What time is it in India?
Yes you feed some good crickets to dart
Pizza for kids
And salad for yourself 😛
Here it’s 8 am, will head to the gym
Have a great start to the new day!!
Yep, we’ll be eating something. Thankfully, I’m off kitchen duty on weekends since husband cooks for all.
That’s even better!!
That’s a great idea btw of switching duties
Sending prayers and hugs for healing and congratulations!
I’ll let Ellis know! Thank you, friend. 🙂
How’s she feeling?
She’s doing good but careful about it. There’s still some leaking but taking medicine for it. Hoping that it’ll close naturally soon! Thank you for asking. She’s excited to have come this far in the year with no ER or hospital stays. We’re doing good!
It’s been a long, long time, Esther! Thank God, your prayers are answered. Good girl, Ellis!
For sure, Miriam! What a long process of feeding and medications and the stress along with all of that. Thank you for your sweet message!
Thanks for God 🙏!
You are a strong & brave Mother. You had lots of love & care of daughter. I hope the procedure goes well, Esther. Sending my prayers & hug for healing .
Thank the Lord you survived those days and have now a positive.
God blessing!
Thank you, Raj! It’s so great to know that I have my blogger friends and reader to cheer us on through our medical journey.
Ellis was nervous but happy to get it taken out. We are sill waiting for it to close naturally.
Thank you for your prayers! Hope you are well.
Thanks, my dear friend. You are most welcome!
Have a great day!
That’s amazing. Wish you and yours the best.
What a long, complicated, and anxiety-ridden process. But you all made it through — Elliott, too! I’m looking forward to a report that all went well.
Thank you, Linda! It’s been a process for our whole family and we always had an extra g-tube with us in case it accidentally got pulled out. What a journey it’s been and a mountain full of supplies from it. She is happy but has yet to celebrate it fully. We’ve been told the hole will take about five weeks to close fully. If it doesn’t close, then she’ll need a stitch.
My grandmother always said that a stitch in time saves nine — we’ll hope that no stitches are needed, but that if they are, they’ll work like a dream to tuck things up.
That’s a wise saying! Yep, Linda, I hope no stitches will be needed. We always had an extra g-tube with us at home or travelled with it in case it closed up. But now, it won’t close up as quickly as we want. Lol.
What a blessing, Esther. Something to celebrate for Ellis, for you, and for the family.Love,Fran
Thank you, Fran! We are excited that she has made this transition. Up till January 2022, she was given compound medications through her g-tube, but she made the change to tablets.
So good to hear from you!!
That’s great news Esther. I hope everything went well with this routine, outpatient surgery and Ellis is feeling perky soon.
Thank you, Linda! It was really simple and Ellis is taking medication to reduce acid production in her stomach while the stomach hole closes on its own. So it’s gauzed up now but she feels goop and liquid after she eats. It must be very uncomfortable! And I’m learning to have a strong stomach…I clean and change the gauze. lol
What moms have to do Esther … sigh. Well, I’m glad Ellis is on the road to recovery and hopefully the stomach hole closes up quickly and is not irritated by her pants waistband.
True…mamas get used to doing a lot of strange things without blinking an eye. Her g tube was on the left middle side of her abdomen, so it doesn’t get bothered by her pants.
Yes, they do – I see, so it’s not on the waistline area which is good.
It’s right on the stomach! Thankfully, it’s done a wonderful job of helping her gain weight and to administer her meds well all these years.
Success on both parts, the job it did and now undoing that good job and on her own. A big sigh of relief for all of you!
Sending good thoughts your way for a successful procedure for Ellis!!
She’s all good! Just a little drainage from g-tube hole, but that should close up soon.
She must be very happy to have the thing gone.
Yay! God gets us through amazing things. I’m so glad that part of your journey is behind you.
Oh my! What a journey you’ve had! Appreciate your re-telling & sharing with so much honesty & openness – it really is a joyous occasion!
Thank you, Ju-Lyn!!