The Contraption

Here is the lovely GJ-tube contraption in all its ghetto glory. Let me walk you through this starting at the top left: the G-tube with a medicine port on top that we’re not allowed to use, the balloon port on bottom (used to fill up the balloon inside her stomach with saline so that it stays in) and an opening for the J-tube in the middle; an adaptor for the G-tube since it is made by a different company than the J-tube, it looks yellow because it is filled with bile from her empty stomach and I can open that orange lid on top to occasionally flush it with water; another adaptor with an orange lid that I’m not allowed to touch; some ghetto tape; the J-tube, it’s actually a skinny tube that goes through the G-tube (and all the other adaptors), into her stomach, and down into her intestines; the red lid is the only port I can use to give her milk and meds; the purple tip of the continuous feed tube.

They put all those ports on it and make it just the right length so that her kicking feet can get stuck on it all the time. I know it’s only a matter of time before it gets pulled out and we’re spending several hours in the ER waiting to have it put back in.This is the continuous feed bag that goes everywhere Averi goes. It looks a lot like an IV bag, except that it’s full of breast milk. I think the little pump is pretty cute, of course it would be cuter if it didn’t weigh so much.Medical technology is definitely a blessing and a curse!