New J-tubes (yes, plural)

In my previous post I mentioned Micah's congestion. Well, we are now on his third antibiotic for an ear infection (and possible sinus infection, though I'm not convinced of that). He's been throwing up every day. At first it was just in the mornings after it seemed he was trying to cough up the mucus junk that was draining overnight. Now he's doing it during other times of the day too. And by the way, this is likely the cause of him needing TWO new J-tubes in the past week because all the coughing/throwing up has dislodged the tube.

We had some major tube issues at the beginning of January. So combine those issues with the latest, and Micah has been under radiation six times this month. A J-tube is much more complicated than a G-tube. If he "just" had a G-tube and it came out, we would be able to replace it ourselves. But the J-tube has to be threaded through his stomach, pylorus, and duodenum, before being positioned a few inches into the jejunum. This process requires fluoroscopy so that the radiologist can thread a wire to the right position before placing the tube there. I've made jokes about Micah beginning to glow sometime from all the radiation, but it's really not that funny to me anymore. The amount of radiation he is receiving is of major concern to us.

And... it's 1.5 hours each way to Children's Hospital to get his tube replaced each time this happens. We can't get it done locally because Micah has a custom J-tube. He can't get a MIC-Key button until he's about 20 pounds. That would be a more "standard" tube and we could keep one with us to take to our local hospital and have it replaced there rather than driving to Milwaukee.

But those are just details. Really, we want our baby to feel better. He's miserable and sleep-deprived. He wakes up every 2 hours or so overnight because of his congestion and/or discomfort. And he has his coughing/vomiting sessions during the day and he's not napping longer than 30-45 minutes twice a day.

He sees an ENT doctor tomorrow who will likely scope him through his nose to check his adenoids, etc. Please pray that he will find a cause for Micah's congestion and offer a simple solution that will eliminate Micah's vomiting and discomfort. Please pray that we would all find a way to sleep as we're very tired.

Update on littlest baby: I had my last OB appointment this morning and the baby is doing great. After reading the ultrasound report, my OB said, "I bet you're glad you're delivering this one via c-section!" He is a good-sized boy already (estimated at 6lb6oz). But... his head and stomach measure in the 98th percentile. Just 8 more days...