She Can't Taste A Thing!!

Many people, including myself, associate feeding tubes with hospice situations and as a marker that the end of life is near. Macayla had a feeding tube (G-Tube) placed this week. I was certainly nervous about this as it seemed like a step toward giving up or giving into the disease. We certainly feel a desire to fight the disease and never give up hope and accepting a G-Tube seems like giving in. But this is not an accurate perspective in a case like Macayla. Macayla has to take such awful tasting medicines that I am amazed that she has taken them for a year now without rebelling sooner. Mac's tube will change her life dramatically. We can spend up to three hours trying to get her meds down some days and we usually can't get all of it in her when that happens. There have been some days when we can get them done in ten minutes, but those days are rare now. So, Macayla's surgery was necessary and a blessing. It is in fact a way to improve the quality of life she experiences now.
The surgery went very well and she is recovering well. She did throw up once during her stay in the hospital. But other than that, she did great. She is eating again, though she is suspicious of the food expecting it to be laced with medication. But she eats well when she can and when her swallowing is good. When it is not, we supplement her with tube feeding. We love that she is still eating, but that is temporary and eventually she will be totally tube fed. The most amazing thing we have already seen is that it takes literally 20 seconds to get 8 medications in her. That leaves 2 hours, 59 minutes and 40 seconds to do other things like play and eat food that is not tainted by the awful taste of medications.
We see over and over how God has mobilized and moved people to reach out to Macayla and us during these times. People in the hospital, multiple churches, family and friends have all been used by our Father to comfort and encourage. We thank you all. We even got to celebrate our anniversary in the hospital by the generous and thoughtful acts of several folks. One friend from church brought us Steak Out complete with cheesecake! Another friend at the hospital dropped off a DVD romantic comedy, popcorn, M&M's and a nice card to go on the wall to announce our 8 years of marriage. We also got a vase of flowers for the room and balloons. We ate our meal, cuddled on the "wonderfully comfortable" cot, and watched a movie. What a wonderful experience in the midst of a hospital stay! Thanks to all! Macayla is home now and we still celebrate every time we give medicines because she didn't taste a thing!