The reality of the g-tube is a little different than the theory. It sticks out a lot more than I expected. It’s obviously sore so we have to be careful until it fully heals, which will take weeks. I’ve given her medicine through it twice. It’s not hard but there are a lot of little steps you have to remember to keep things clean. She’s been good, with me at least, about not pulling at the tubing.
She’s not eating or drinking great, but we didn’t really expect much of a change. Now that she gets most of her nutrition through the tub we can focus on feeding techniques and making meals fun again rather than worrying about volume. She apparently gained a pound in her first week with the g-tube, so it’s certainly doing its job.
Last week we saw the orthopedic surgeon. He’s really happy with how Maria’s hip and broken leg healed so he gave us the go ahead to get back to normal activities as she can tolerate them. As soon as we got home, I started working with her on standing. It took 10-15 minutes for her to figure out what I was trying to get her to do and then, with a lot of support from me, she stood up. She had an enormous smile on her face. I had her hold the stand for a few seconds and then sit. We did it twice more and then three times after supper. I don’t want to exhaust her, but every time she was a grinnin’ fool.
The next time I came by, I took her out on the bike. It’s been months since she’s been on it so I figured I’d be lucky to get her to pedal at all, but I wanted her to get familiar with it again. We got about three houses along the sidewalk, and I felt the bike pull away as she started to pedal! She’d do spurts of 1-2 revolutions, and then let me push for a while, and then peddle a little and so on. It was great.
There’s still a lot of work ahead, but I think she’s ready to get moving.