ER trip #3

Yes, it's true. We had another visit to the ER. Micah's MIC-Key button came out again on Monday 3/31. I was home alone with the boys and it was about time for Nathan's nap when it happened. And the kicker? The balloon was fully inflated! Last time, the balloon was deflated, which is how it's normally taken out anyway. It's not supposed to come out with the balloon inflated. It's a lot bigger that way.

Because it was Nathan's naptime and I had no idea how long we would have to wait in the ER to see a doctor, I thought it would be best to not bring Nathan with us. I couldn't reach Mark because he was in meetings. I called our neighbor, Salina, on her cellphone and she quickly came to my rescue (interrupting a workout at the Y). She put Nathan down for a nap for me and stayed with him until we got back. My hero!

Though Micah was far from pleased that the insertion of the button had to happen again, it did go much smoother this time around. Why? Because our home health nurse had armed us with a simple little feeding tube (used for ng-feedings). The idea was to have that put in right away by a nurse in case we had to wait too long. We didn't have to wait long at all. But the ER doctor was quite happy we had it because he threaded it through the button and used it as a guide. Worked like a charm (Micah would disagree... I hate seeing him scream like that).

We were concerned that because the button came out with the balloon intact, Micah might need to be sized for a larger button. But the ER doctor put an extra ml of water into the balloon after he put the button back in. But we saw Micah's surgeon for a checkup on Friday and he said it was fine.

That was an interesting appt. The nurse came into the room to start the assessment (at which point I told her he had just been weighed on Wed at cardiology... do we really need to go through this again? fortunately, not). She also brought in two MIC-Key buttons: one for replacement then, and one to take home as a spare (wouldn't THAT have been nice to have two weeks ago!). I informed her of the events of the previous 2 weeks and questioned whether we really needed to replace his button. I mean, really... it's gone in and out twice in two weeks... do we have to torture him again? Fortunately, not.

His surgeon checked the g-tube site, said it looked good, and we had a chat about the resident not calling us back on Good Friday. Because it's a new month, it's not the same residents on rotation now, but he said he'd bring it back to the team to let them know what happened. We also chatted about Micah's ongoing tummy troubles. He doesn't scream during every feeding session, but still occasionally. He recommended we try a different formula and see a GI specialist. After discussing the formula thing, Mark and I decided we're going to stick with the soy thing as Micah is at least improving. I don't want to change it again if we don't absolutely have to.