G-tubes, hospital stays and more

Hopefully ya'll were able to begin to wrap your head around the ketogenic diet process.  Along with this transition we have made the decision to get a feeding tube, g-tube, for Stephen. We came to this decision because on this diet he will need amply liquids, much more than we can sit and give him in a day.  This will be a great solution for us to be able to get liquids in him quickly when needed.  It will also provide us with a mean to get medicines in Stephen if he has a seizure so we aren't playing catch up the next day.  We are still planning on feeding Stephen by mouth and giving him liquids by mouth, the g-tube will just be for supplemental fluids when needed.  

The tube will go right into his stomach and be able to deposit liquids directly to him.

This is what the tube will look like and for the first few months he will have a tube sticking out of his side.  Once he has completely healed from this surgery, we will be able to get a button placed over the tube and he will no longer have to have the tube sticking out. 

Lily Gray refers to this as a balloon hole, thinking that once you open it, it will start to inflate like a balloon :)

So when is all this happening?

This Friday, July 22nd, we will go to Duke Hospital and have the surgery to get the g-tube placed. Stephen will be in the hospital till Saturday.  Then on Monday, July 25th we will go back to the hospital and stay for the week most likely, to start the ketogenic diet process.  During this week, we will be transitioning Stephen and monitoring his levels and also getting intense schooling on the diet.  

This is a big week for us! Oh yeah, and someone has a birthday tomorrow... :)