G-Tube Decision and Questions

October 23, 2005

Well I can totally relate to the stress some of you are feeling about

the whole feeding tube issue, it is definately a difficult one to

make. For us it was great to start with an NG tube because it was

easy to insert and not permanent...it allowed us to see what a

difference it made for Josiah with weight gain (he gained 4 pounds in

6 weeks)....He has definately benefitted from it. He has his g-tube

surgery booked on Friday. We have run into some new issues however

and I would like to get some help out there as this is all new to

me. We have definately been suspecting that Josiah has been having

issues with low blood sugar, so when we saw the endo he got us a

glucometer and we have been taking his blood sugar to get an idea of

where it is....after he gets a bolus or overnight feed his sugars go

really high and then come back down. We have spoken to the

endocrinologist on call over the weekend and she is very concerned

about this happening. She said that Josiah may be getting too many

carbs/kg/hour and that he may possibly need a J tube instead of a G

tube and may need a more continuous feed. Has anyone had experience

with this issue? Does it really make a difference J vs G? Is this a

RSS silver thing with unstable sugars??? Is the procedure that

different (we were told G would all be done with a scope.) I need

some advice and some education on this issue.

Thanks,

,

Mom to Josiah 29 months RSS, NG tube

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