Cindy - hypo-g and continual feeds

February 8, 2004

Hi Cindy,

I don't think I explained myself too well on the hypo-g thing at the

convention. I don't know if it IS the continual feeds that caused 's

hypo-g to get worse.

Before had his g-tube placed, he hardly ate anything, and spit up a

lot of what we got down him. He was only consuming 10-12oz of 30kcal/oz

formula on a GOOD day, at that time. I would think we would have had more BS

problems then, but we didn't. His hypo-g issues have gotten worse SINCE the

placement of the g-tube, and the onset of continual feeds. Who knows, they

might have gotten worse anyway.

AND since had his large weight gains, I would think that the extra

body fat he now has, would protect him against hypo-g, but it hasn't. In

fact, the extra body fat seems to have made the situation worse. The last

time we checked, was dropping 30-40 BSLs when he was off the pump

for 30 minutes. (I haven't checked this recently)

As far as the weight of the pump goes, it really hasn't hampered 's

activity levels at all. He frequently plays with his 3-yr old cousin, and

really doesn't have any problems keeping up. When we first started putting

the backpack on him, he would refuse to move. But we worked through that

time, without removing the backpack, and he's gotten used to it now. He

doesn't argue or bulk at all when we put it on. And if he's running around

and the pump alarms, he'll come find one of us, and tell us that he has

" bubbles " . For , continual feeds and his backpack, have made it

possible for him to be more active, not less.

I hope this helps to clear up some of the confusion. As I said, I don't know

that 's increase in hypo-g problems has anything to do with continual

feeds. Dr H's new theory with , is that he might be suffering from

" intermittent delayed gastric emptying " and that is what is causing him

bouncing BSLs.

Hope this helps.

Pat

PS - Funny how life makes us count our blessings every now and then, isn't

it? There are days when I wish everything with was more " normal " ,

(no more pump problems, feeding therapies, dr. appts) and then I'll meet

someone with a child/g-child that has more " severe " problems, and I'll be

thanking my lucky stars!

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