I am tube ignorant, I think....

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Comments

  • Tim6003
    Tim6003 Member Posts: 1,514 Member
    #22
    yensid683 said:

    I too was tube ignorant
    After the tube was placed I was discharged with a pamphlet, what a great help that was!

    I had several days of challenge with it and was fortunate that the nursing staff at my radiation oncologist's office was on the ball and helped my wife and I understand not only how to care for the stoma, but how to use the tube.

    If you are not using it, flush it daily with a couple of syringes of water.

    When you do use it, as you've discovered, flush using the syringe both before and after you feed. I've gotten to the point where I put a full 500ml of water through at each feed, 150 before and the rest after I've dripped in a couple of cans of Jevity.

    Here's hoping your mouth calms down and you'll soon be back to oral intake!

    Peter

    My experience..
    My tube never became blocked or even slow...I flushed it daily ...the smell is real....I just used an anti-septic wipe to clean the whole outside and around the opening.

    :)


    Best,

    Tim
  • patricke
    patricke Member Posts: 570
    #23
    phrannie51 said:

    All's well that ends well.... ha!
    I still feel like an idiot over the smell being just from taking hydrocodone the last few days...

    However...I flushed before I ate, and then I fed myself in the recliner...and the flow on the tube was back to normal. Flushed after I was done, too...

    Somebody mentioned about how they turn you lose with these things and don't tell ya diddley how to use them...just how to care for them till you heal...after that you're on your own. They never even gave me syringes when I got mine...only on here did I hear about those. Finally the Home Health nurse brought me a couple (I had no idea where one would buy them, except maybe Vet Supply).

    Like I've said, the tube has kinda creeped me out since the beginning, so I'm not as brave about "figuring things out"...I'm scared I'll screw it up.

    With great relief I can say crisis averted...

    p

    YEAAAA!
    Hey phrannie, I'm glad to hear that your tube functioning is back to normal and the fluids are flowing smoothly again, and you solved the mystery of the sneaky smell. It is amazing how often trained experienced medical/nursing hospital professionals have a habit of d/c'ing us from the hospital with our spiffy new tubes, without giving us an iota of practical information about using and caring for them. My wife, Diane, just reminded me that when they sent me home, it was with 6 cans of food and a prescription for more, but our CVS pharmacy told us good luck in finding a place to order the stuff, cause they couldn't. God bless the Home Health Care Nurses! Well, you're back to having fun, so just keep it movin on forward. It is great to have this forum for problem solving, support, etc.

    PATRICK
  • Greend
    Greend Member Posts: 678
    #24
    tube
    I've had mine a few years and it will be cremated with me when I die. I don't know why they say to use gravity feeding. I did that for a long time and then just started plunging very slowly and have been doing that ever since. I too used Ensure but constipation and weight loss made me switch to blended food and it had an immediate positive effect on my weight and energy levels. Since I use food I get blocks a lot of times but they are always at the point where the hose and the port are connected at the very top. If my tube has a flushing port then I just pinch the tube below the port and use a small syringe with water to break the jam. If my tube doesn't have a flushing port then I too have used a fork tine, a toothpick and I have even bought some of those very long (craft store) pipe cleaners to push through the jam(s). Somehow I always get it loose. Rotating is done every evening while I shower and YES there is an oder that either others can't smell or they are just being polite. I usually clean around the hole with a peroxide wipe whenever that happens.

    Hope you are rid of it soon.

    Denny
  • Greend
    Greend Member Posts: 678
    #25
    phrannie51 said:

    All's well that ends well.... ha!
    I still feel like an idiot over the smell being just from taking hydrocodone the last few days...

    However...I flushed before I ate, and then I fed myself in the recliner...and the flow on the tube was back to normal. Flushed after I was done, too...

    Somebody mentioned about how they turn you lose with these things and don't tell ya diddley how to use them...just how to care for them till you heal...after that you're on your own. They never even gave me syringes when I got mine...only on here did I hear about those. Finally the Home Health nurse brought me a couple (I had no idea where one would buy them, except maybe Vet Supply).

    Like I've said, the tube has kinda creeped me out since the beginning, so I'm not as brave about "figuring things out"...I'm scared I'll screw it up.

    With great relief I can say crisis averted...

    p

    Syringes
    I buy mine (insurance covers it by the way) from a medical supply store.
  • hwt
    hwt Member Posts: 2,328 Member
    #26
    Greend said:

    tube
    I've had mine a few years and it will be cremated with me when I die. I don't know why they say to use gravity feeding. I did that for a long time and then just started plunging very slowly and have been doing that ever since. I too used Ensure but constipation and weight loss made me switch to blended food and it had an immediate positive effect on my weight and energy levels. Since I use food I get blocks a lot of times but they are always at the point where the hose and the port are connected at the very top. If my tube has a flushing port then I just pinch the tube below the port and use a small syringe with water to break the jam. If my tube doesn't have a flushing port then I too have used a fork tine, a toothpick and I have even bought some of those very long (craft store) pipe cleaners to push through the jam(s). Somehow I always get it loose. Rotating is done every evening while I shower and YES there is an oder that either others can't smell or they are just being polite. I usually clean around the hole with a peroxide wipe whenever that happens.

    Hope you are rid of it soon.

    Denny

    PEG
    I am confused. Someone said the G-tube I had and PEG were one and same but whenever you all talk about the PEG it sounds so much more complicated than what I had. No one ever mentioned being able to put food in my tube nor do I think you could, it was mighty thin. I only put Ensure or Boost in it or could use it for liquid or crushed meds with a syringe. Actually, the Ensure went in a disposable bag that we would connect to the G-tube. The other thing you all talked about was the extra belly button when it was removed. Mine was actually inserted about 2 inches under my breast and when it was pulled out I never felt it. You could not lay down while using it or for a half hour afterwards. There was a stitch holding it in place so there was no twisting or rotating it. At one point it became a bit painful so they snipped the stitch and immediate relief. I'm beginning to think the G-tube and PEG are not one and the same.
  • George_Baltimore
    George_Baltimore Member Posts: 303
    #27
    hwt said:

    PEG
    I am confused. Someone said the G-tube I had and PEG were one and same but whenever you all talk about the PEG it sounds so much more complicated than what I had. No one ever mentioned being able to put food in my tube nor do I think you could, it was mighty thin. I only put Ensure or Boost in it or could use it for liquid or crushed meds with a syringe. Actually, the Ensure went in a disposable bag that we would connect to the G-tube. The other thing you all talked about was the extra belly button when it was removed. Mine was actually inserted about 2 inches under my breast and when it was pulled out I never felt it. You could not lay down while using it or for a half hour afterwards. There was a stitch holding it in place so there was no twisting or rotating it. At one point it became a bit painful so they snipped the stitch and immediate relief. I'm beginning to think the G-tube and PEG are not one and the same.

    confused
    You have to puree foods to be able to put them in your tube. You have to use a plunger to get them down. The "extra belly button" indeed would be higher than your real one. Whoever took yours out probably deflated the balloon that was holding it in. If that was the case, there would be no pain at all. As far as the stitch is concerned, when they are first put in place, I do believe everyone has a stitch. After a while, the stitch is removed. So you see, what you had is consistent with a PEG.
  • hwt
    hwt Member Posts: 2,328 Member
    #28
    George_Baltimore said:

    confused
    You have to puree foods to be able to put them in your tube. You have to use a plunger to get them down. The "extra belly button" indeed would be higher than your real one. Whoever took yours out probably deflated the balloon that was holding it in. If that was the case, there would be no pain at all. As far as the stitch is concerned, when they are first put in place, I do believe everyone has a stitch. After a while, the stitch is removed. So you see, what you had is consistent with a PEG.

    Clarification
    Thanks for clarifying. Sounds like they just forgot to tell me about pureed foods and a plunger. Fortunately, the Ensure and Boost got me through.

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