My Saturday Morning Heart Attack

Ugh...what next?!

Emily seems to be feeling better, no more croup episodes last night. I took off her pajamas this morning, and there was dried blood around her g-tube. This sometimes happens if the skin gets irritated while she's sleeping on her stomach, so I didn't think anything of it and just cleaned it up. I didn't get her dressed right away, so she was running around without a shirt on. She walked by me and I saw a drip of blood all the way down her belly. I grabbed her and looked and the blood (reddish colored but much thinner) is coming from inside the opening in her skin where her g-tube is inserted. I just kept dabbing at it to clean it up and then a few minutes later it would be there again!

I was going to take her right to the emergency room (again!) but I knew they wouldn't know much about feeding tubes with the exception of how to put them in and how to use them. I'm sure I could teach them a thing or two by now! The only people who seem to know about other issues related to a g-tube is the GI office, so I called and had a doctor paged (wasn't sure if that was possible at first since they are a specialist office). The doctor called back within 10 minutes, and he said it was all okay. Whew! He said just like the skin on the outside can get irritated, the tissue on the inside can as well, and it often has nicks or raw areas that can bleed slightly. He says he sees it every time he scopes someone, so it's very common. You just don't usually see it come out. He said to just watch her and make sure she doesn't seem in any pain or that the area doesn't look infected.

I left her stomach alone for a little bit, since I figured everytime I move the g-tube around, it's going to impede the healing of whatever is irritated inside. Sure enough, it seems to have stopped now.

Will this week never end?!?! :)