BarryG
Extremely helpful member
- Joined
- Nov 19, 2008
- Messages
- 3,000
- Diagnosis
- 02/2008
- Country
- CA
- State
- Alberta
- City
- Hinton
Well I am finally back in my comfy recliner after a two day trip to the "city" (as the locals call Edmonton as if it were the only city) with son Andrew because Beth had our new summer employee starting that day so could not accompany me. We had a 10 am appointment at the University of Alberta Hospital for a peg tube replacement so we left home at 6 am as it is a three hour drive. We arrived at the day surgery at about 9:45 and were shown into a room and waited and waited and waited until 12 when the gastro doc showed up. He talked to me for a bit, had a look at my existing peg and said that he was ok with changing it out. He then asked me how tough I felt because he could give me a local anesthetic but that the needle would likely hurt just as much as the procedure. I said lets just do it and he said ok.
I asked him what kind of replacement tube I would be getting and he said that it would be the same as what I had but with an inflatable balloon for easy replacement. When I mentioned the button kind he said that he would prefer to not put a button in at this time because they had no measurements for it and that once the old one was replaced with the balloon type then the button type could be put in anytime. I said ok I am good with that.
So there I am, on my back with the gastro doc, his intern/trainee/sidekick, and the nurse looking at my belly. He said "Are you ready?", I nodded "Yes" and then there was a sharp pain in my stomach and the old one was out and a new one in. The whole actual procedure was done in under two minutes and the pain was not too bad and was very short term. There was very little blood. As it was now about 1 pm and I had not had anything to eat or drink (all the same for me) since 11 the previous night I was getting very weak from hunger. I asked when I could use my new tube and the doctor said that he wanted to have some xrays taken to ensure proper placement first so they wheeled me off to have a chest xray and an xray of the peg area. All was good so I had a box of formula and it felt good.
Then the doctor asked me when my appointment with the home nutrition support people were so that they could explain how to care for my new peg and how to replace it myself. I said that no one had mentioned the need for this visit to me and he was shocked and told me that he was not comfortable with me going away without this information and I agreed that I wanted to know. So away he went to call to make an appointment for me.
It was about 2 pm by the time that he tried to arrange for me to meet with one of the dietitians so we waited and waited and waited and at about 3:30 he came in and said the dietitian could meet with us Tuesday morning so we went away to our room at the the outpatient residence.
Because the rooms there are very spartan and by this time we were very bored we went to see Iron Man 2 at West Edmonton Mall, a fun movie with lots of explosions and car wrecks, and then I bought Andrew dinner (I have to keep my 21 year old helper/wheel chair pusher/driver happy and well fed).
So yesterday morning we were off to meet with the dietitian at another hospital, The Royal Alexandra, and she explained all about how this new tube needs to be replaced every three months to avoid balloon failure. She explained how to do it and gave me a replacement tube, a temporary catheter tube to put in the hole if I need time to get the replacement tube ready and she made an appointment for me to come back to her for the first replacement in June when I am in the city for the ALS walk. She told me that the new tube that I had was made by Bard and it was much stiffer than my old tube and was also stiffer than the replacement ones that she would give me which are made by Kimberly Clark (Mic Gastronomy tube). So then we went for lunch and to yet another hospital, The Miseracordia, for my afternoon sleep study.
I got to the hospital, found the respiratory technician, Sonya, got changed into my jammies and climbed into bed. She hooked me up to the bipap with a nose and mouth mask, a finger tip monitor thingy, and a monitor thing stuck to my chest. She started the bipap and dimmed the lights and told me to try to sleep. I am laying there thinking "This is ok, weird but ok" and almost having a nice dream when Sonya says "Barry, I need to draw some blood for your oxygen and carbon dioxide levels", I said "Mmmm" and tried to go back to my dream when there was a sharp jab in my right wrist, of course as I have no blood she couldn't get any with the first jab and had to do another jab. So much for sleeping during my sleep study. I did get back to sleep and after about two hours of semi snoozing I was done and we headed home with my new loaner Bipap.
We got home at about 7:30 last night and I went right to bed and wore the bipap until I woke up at 12:30 and took it off because I was uncomfortable and slept through till 7:30 this morning. I guess it will take some getting used to, it doesn't feel like it is inflating my lungs, it really feels like it is just inflating my cheeks. What really bothers me is I cant wear my glasses and so I cant do anything other than sleep with it on.
Anyway, I'm glad to be home and glad to be back here with my friends, I've had enough fun for this week.
Barry
I asked him what kind of replacement tube I would be getting and he said that it would be the same as what I had but with an inflatable balloon for easy replacement. When I mentioned the button kind he said that he would prefer to not put a button in at this time because they had no measurements for it and that once the old one was replaced with the balloon type then the button type could be put in anytime. I said ok I am good with that.
So there I am, on my back with the gastro doc, his intern/trainee/sidekick, and the nurse looking at my belly. He said "Are you ready?", I nodded "Yes" and then there was a sharp pain in my stomach and the old one was out and a new one in. The whole actual procedure was done in under two minutes and the pain was not too bad and was very short term. There was very little blood. As it was now about 1 pm and I had not had anything to eat or drink (all the same for me) since 11 the previous night I was getting very weak from hunger. I asked when I could use my new tube and the doctor said that he wanted to have some xrays taken to ensure proper placement first so they wheeled me off to have a chest xray and an xray of the peg area. All was good so I had a box of formula and it felt good.
Then the doctor asked me when my appointment with the home nutrition support people were so that they could explain how to care for my new peg and how to replace it myself. I said that no one had mentioned the need for this visit to me and he was shocked and told me that he was not comfortable with me going away without this information and I agreed that I wanted to know. So away he went to call to make an appointment for me.
It was about 2 pm by the time that he tried to arrange for me to meet with one of the dietitians so we waited and waited and waited and at about 3:30 he came in and said the dietitian could meet with us Tuesday morning so we went away to our room at the the outpatient residence.
Because the rooms there are very spartan and by this time we were very bored we went to see Iron Man 2 at West Edmonton Mall, a fun movie with lots of explosions and car wrecks, and then I bought Andrew dinner (I have to keep my 21 year old helper/wheel chair pusher/driver happy and well fed).
So yesterday morning we were off to meet with the dietitian at another hospital, The Royal Alexandra, and she explained all about how this new tube needs to be replaced every three months to avoid balloon failure. She explained how to do it and gave me a replacement tube, a temporary catheter tube to put in the hole if I need time to get the replacement tube ready and she made an appointment for me to come back to her for the first replacement in June when I am in the city for the ALS walk. She told me that the new tube that I had was made by Bard and it was much stiffer than my old tube and was also stiffer than the replacement ones that she would give me which are made by Kimberly Clark (Mic Gastronomy tube). So then we went for lunch and to yet another hospital, The Miseracordia, for my afternoon sleep study.
I got to the hospital, found the respiratory technician, Sonya, got changed into my jammies and climbed into bed. She hooked me up to the bipap with a nose and mouth mask, a finger tip monitor thingy, and a monitor thing stuck to my chest. She started the bipap and dimmed the lights and told me to try to sleep. I am laying there thinking "This is ok, weird but ok" and almost having a nice dream when Sonya says "Barry, I need to draw some blood for your oxygen and carbon dioxide levels", I said "Mmmm" and tried to go back to my dream when there was a sharp jab in my right wrist, of course as I have no blood she couldn't get any with the first jab and had to do another jab. So much for sleeping during my sleep study. I did get back to sleep and after about two hours of semi snoozing I was done and we headed home with my new loaner Bipap.
We got home at about 7:30 last night and I went right to bed and wore the bipap until I woke up at 12:30 and took it off because I was uncomfortable and slept through till 7:30 this morning. I guess it will take some getting used to, it doesn't feel like it is inflating my lungs, it really feels like it is just inflating my cheeks. What really bothers me is I cant wear my glasses and so I cant do anything other than sleep with it on.
Anyway, I'm glad to be home and glad to be back here with my friends, I've had enough fun for this week.
Barry