Jared's G-tube Goes Bye Bye

Originally posted HERE

This has been a crazy week. On Sunday morning, Jared, our almost-two-year-old “special needs” child pulled out his G-tube from his stomach, so my wife had to go to the emergency room for 8 hours. Evidently, the plastic bubble thing on the “mickey” (I call it his second belly button) that stays inside his body, ruptured, which allowed the tube to come out. The doctors couldn’t put the tube back in, but they were able to put a small catheter in. Then yesterday, the doctors put a larger catheter in because they still couldn’t get the G-tube in. My wife and I just tried to put the G-tube in ourselves (don’t worry, it’s legal!), but the hole in his stomach is still too small.

What happens is that the human body heals itself so quickly that if you don’t catch it fast enough, the hole will seal up without the G-tube in place. If we had caught it quicker (like within 30 minutes) we could have put the G-tube in without any issues. Problem was that he pulled the tube out in the middle of the night while he was sleeping.

Fortunately, Jared only needs the G-tube for supplemental feeding at night. The doctors want him to keep it because he’ll need another heart surgery in the next year or two.

As a side note, Jared started talking this month. He can say over a dozen words now. It’s cute to see him do the sign language and then say the word at the same time. He doesn’t realize that if he can say the word, he doesn't have to do the sign language any more. Most importantly, of course, is that he smiles and says “dada” every time I walk into the room.

Another side note: I've gotten past the 100-page mark of my book, which is around 1/3 of what the book will be. I've slowed down a bit in my writing because of Baker & Taylor, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Sony, Kitabe, SpokenNetwork, and Audible. I love all those companies, but I've had to spend time working with them to get my audiobook and E-Book distributed. So much work! I'm very pleased with what I've written so far. It's like a large puzzle. Lots more mystery, romance, and suspense. What excites me is that I'm adding things that will be the base of future books.

CLICK HERE to see the new Amazon page for the audiobook.

Status on Jared's Surgery

Originally posted HERE

My baby, Jared, had four procedures done at the hospital yesterday. When they tried to take the breathing tube out, he wouldn't breath, so they had to keep him there all day. He was going to stay overnight, but he finally decided to breathe on his own.

He's home now but is in a lot of pain. They did surgery on his "manly area" (ouch) and worked on his ears and throat. Since he was already under, they decided to put tubes in his ears at the last minute. He's a little trooper. Last time he had these types of procedures, he was in pain for two months (He recovered faster from his heart surgery than the other surgeries). Anyway, I'm glad to have him home.

I should also mention that this month Jared has finally started to eat a little (he's 19 months old). He can now sit up from a laying-down position (with a lot of effort), although he doesn't roll over yet. And when we hold him up, he tries to walk... if he's motivated enough. It's very cute. He's in hypergrowth! I hope his surgery doesn't put an end to all of that. A year ago he was drinking from a bottle (finally) but after the last surgery on his "manly area," he never drank again from a bottle and refused to eat until just recently. He has a feeding tube in his stomach, for those of you who don't know.

We've also discovered that he'll need heart surgery again in the next year or two. That means they'll crack open his ribs again. Arrg. It sounds like he'll need several more heart surgeries until his heart stops growing. He's not out of the woods yet.