What Not To Do!

When transferring someone from one bed to another and they have a feeding tube with the extension set still attached, it is always best to ensure that the extension set is not caught on anything. The extension set is the 12 or 24 inch tube that connects to Macayla's button on her feeding tube. It got caught between me and the bed rail as I lowered her in the bed this morning. I had no idea until I heard a strange gurgling pop! I looked down and saw her shirt getting wetter and wetter and then noticed her extension set and Mic-Key feeding tube hanging free from the bed rail. I had accidentally yanked her Mic-Key out of her stomach! The whole point of us going to the Mic-Key was because it has a balloon that can be deflated for removal and this causes less pain and damage than feeding tube systems like Genie and Bard Buttons that have to be yanked out. So, in carelessness, I yanked Macayla's Mic-Key out of her. She handled it much better than I did. I felt so bad that I did it. It was one of those moments of panic where I was holding her whole tube in one hand and trying to plug the hole in her stomach with the other and asking, "What now?!" Once I regained my presence of mind, I called out to Jennifer who saved the day. Good thing I kept it together and didn't loose control of the situation, huh? 

The good thing was that it was time to change out her tube and we had a replacement at home. So we put the new one in and it is cleaner and a better size to fit the thickness of her stoma and abdomen wall. It certainly has not been a dull 48 hours. See the next post.