Brazil: Miracle of the Feeding Tube

Also during this time the did numerous leak test to check the progress of the Fistula. They also had the great idea of inserting a feeding tube up Jena's nose and all the way down in to the bottom of her stomach so they could feed her and bypass the hole. That was probably the most aggravated and miserable i have ever seen my wife. I felt bad because there wasn't much i could do to help her. That night after they put in the feeding tube i stayed a wake with her and we talked all night. Jena was so uncomfortable. She couldn't lay down or sleep because the tube kept scratching the back of there throat.

Like I said, the feeding tube was a horrible idea. It made her so sick that she was constantly gagging on it, making her throw up (and other stuff)...and it moved the feeding tube around. It cut parts of the inside of her nose and she was dripping blood and mucus pretty constantly.

The only thing she could do to keep from vomiting and gagging was to walk up and down the halls wit her IV tower, head down. She looked so sad...she was pretty miserable. She prayed that whole night that there would be some other way for her to get the nutrition.

Jena became more and more dehydrated because her veins in her arms and fingers and hands were collapsing. The nurses felt bad, but they'd have to poke sometimes 12 times to get a vein to cooperate.

The next afternoon, the surgeon said they would have to re-do the whole endoscopy to try again. Her feeding tube had moved around so much that she wasn't getting any of the nutrition she needed to heal. And she wouldn't start healing until she got that nutrition. Her eyes filled up with tears and bravely said, "If that's what we have to do." She was heartbroken, she truly thought there would be another way. The surgeon saw her eyes and said, "You know, Angel...I was woken up in the middle of the night thinking that your body wouldn't tolerate this treatment for much longer. Let's put in a central line IV." We knew Jena's prayers were answered: she wouldn't have to be poked in her arms AND she wouldn't feel sick all the time!