Cancer Support and Caregivers Who Are Trail Blazers!

[JustJo]

Originally Posted by JustJo

Hello all

Mom got a stomach tube put in yesterday. The plus side is that it will replace the PIC line that has given her such problems and make it easier to clear the recurring blockages that she's getting...the down side is, well, that it's a stomach tube....so one more port, one more (minor) surgery, and one more thing that is depressing the hell out of her.

Ugh...so many things have been discussed that she and I BOTH got this wrong. It is a stomach tube, but it is located between the stomach and what's left of the small intestine, and is to control outgoing rather than incoming.

Evidently it will help them clear blockages, and also allow her to cirucumvent the intestine entirely (at will) when she is feeling discomfort.

So...now she is hooked up to 3 bags....TPN in through the PIC line, the original ostomy bag and now the new one....that I don't even know what to call.

Her TPN is increased to about 20 hours a day, and she will never be off of it.

She is feeling like a monster....with every step of food intake and digestion being controlled by valves and clamps and bags and needles.

On the plus side, this blockage was cleared and she is no longer having any pain.

The chemo will start later this week...since the latest scan shows that the liver lesions are now 11 mm and 8 mm, respectively....when they were so small they didn't even show on a scan a few months ago.