Two bits of update;
1) On the morning of May 26, Denise’s J-tube fell out. It had been shifting about and causing her discomfort for several days and then just simply slid out and fell to the floor.
This whole tube falling out or being pulled out happens regularly, I suppose because it’s a common topic…”what to do when your tube gets pulled out”. I guess the mechanism for holding it in place fails.
Not a fun thing.
Subsequently, she spent the day at the local emergency department to be checked out. They ran a cat scan and said she was okay. During the wait, along with her new GI doc, it was decided not to put the tube back in.
It’s been in her for over a year, and frankly has been a perpetually uncomfortable and less than useful thing.
Denise planned to ask to have the J-tube taken out at a visit with this new GI doc this Friday May 29, 2020. That’s thing 2.
Denise is undergoing an endoscopy on Friday. Our biggest concern is the anesthetic side effects – she is often pretty sick from them.
At that visit, the doc is going to probably try a Botox injection therapy on Denise’s pylorus during an endoscopy. The idea is that it is a way to freeze that muscle open and allow Denise to have food work its way through her system with less pain.
The Botox treatment may help her to have less pain, eat a greater variety of foods and maybe foods of different texture.
We’re also praying that I’ll be able to join her in recovery – because she needs an advocate, and that’s how we roll.
More to come soon.
Lloyd