Out Patient Surgery

From the immediate looks of it, Dennis' calorie issue may have been solved.

He had a new feeding tube inserted today. Yesterday he had an appointment with a GI specialist. This doctor decided that Dennis had the wrong type of feeding tube. Instead of one that feed directly into the stomach, he needed one that fed into the intestine. He was brought up to out-patient surgery and they inserted Novocaine into his belly. Then they asked when he ate last.

When I came home he told me they had been mean to him. They made him get shots into his delicate skin and then decided his stomach was too full to do the surgery.

So today he went back on a very empty stomach. When we left a couple of hours later, he had the newest tube on the market hanging out of his belly.

The gadget feels almost like silicone. It's tough, but soft. It has three separate places to insert junk. The "J" tube goes into the intestine. This is where food, and only food, gets injected. Then there is a "G" tube, where water, pills, and any other odd stuff get shoved directly into the stomach. Finally there is a balloon, which we were told not to touch under any circumstances. It's all a bit overwhelming, but we all will get it straight in a few days, and it will seem as if we have been doing this forever.

Dennis will now eat at night while he sleeps. This will leave him with several extra hours in the morning that he has used up slowly eating as much as he could for as long as he could. He will need to get a new hobby. Well, actually he has - he spent a small fortune the other day on a Nintendo DS. Now he can sit at the kitchen table for hours playing memory games and killing monsters.

Until later,
Ann and Dennis