From G to J Tube

We hoped Lily would be able to resume her feeds today but her pancreas continues to be irritated. The doctors do not want to make it worse by starting her feeds. They’re going to start sugar/vitamin/mineral water through her IV this evening. If her enzyme levels plateau it looks like we will switch Lily’s g-tube to a j-tube. The j-tube would bypass her stomach and go directly into her intestine– bypassing the pancreas as well. This would be a bedside procedure; we’ll know after her daily 4:30 AM blood draw tomorrow. The doctors still aren’t certain what exactly is causing her pancreatitis; they don’t believe it’s a reaction to medications but possibly due to a virus. She’s had a thick, wet cough the last few days; perhaps its a virus . . . we are waiting for test results. We hope this j-tube will be an answer to many questions. We know her stomach is extremely slow to empty and she can’t tolerate the higher volumes. And she needs the calories to recover and participate in therapy; she burns a lot of calories just doing simple movements.
Thank you for your prayers along with visualizing her back as her ol’ self. And thank you for the guestbook signings; we continue to read your posts to her daily.

God Bless,
Leslie

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