Wyatt's Gtube

As many of you know, Wyatt's story began 9.5 months ago, at the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO). Although, I do not foresee Wyatt's story hitting a climax any time soon, I am happy to say, that I feel like we've finally gotten over a major obstacle in Wyatt's story.

The G tube.

Wyatt has been 100% NG fed since birth. The damn thing gets in the way more and more, and Wyatt is fully aware of how to pull it out of his cute, button nose. And he does it often - 3 to 4 times a day is a norm for him. For many of you, you may wonder, why is this a big deal? Every time Wyatt pulls his NG tube out of his nose, a couple of things may or may not happen:

1. He vomits and chokes;
2. The contents of the NG floods his oesophagus, and he aspirates the contents, which may or may not lead to aspirated pneumonia;
3. He chokes on the actual NG tube;
4. He contaminates the NG with external environmental bacteria, which can infect his oesophagus and stomach if the tube is not properly sterilized.

Not to mention, the NG tube is quite long, and although mom tapes the tube to his back, he has managed to wrap it around his neck several times. 

With that said, it seems like our voices have been heard, finally. Wyatt is to get a Case Study done this coming Tuesday, and for those of you who don't know, a Case Study is when all of the specialists, who follow the patient, come together in a meeting, and develop a plan of care for their patient. It's a way to ensure everyone is on the same page. On that page, for certain is a possible G-tube procedure, and hopefully, a biopsy of his facial muscles. The G-tube will allow Wyatt to be inconspicuously fed, and the biopsy will hopefully, shed some light on the "myopathic-like units" found in Wyatt's EMG from October.

Anaesthesia has been so reluctant to put him under, because he is at a high risk of losing his airway. If he loses his airway, there is a chance he'll need an emergency tracheotomy, which would set us back. And there is no guarantee that if the emergency trach happened, that Wyatt would at least come out of the procedure with a Gtube. Many people have contacted us through Wyatt's site of a fibre optic intubation, however, the anaesthesiologist cannot guarantee a safe airway, as sometimes, the tube causes bleeding down the nasal cavity, and they cannot see clearly where to go and open his airway. 

Here's hoping that come next Tuesday, I'll have some news for everyone! Don't forget to follow him on Twitter (@whatsupwithwyat), as I post updates there too!