I LOVE MY TUBELESS TUMMY!

The next six weeks were a real test for me and Jasmine. She came down with a cold and fever so I had to try and give her medicine by mouth, plus her food and drink. She was not at all interested in any of it, so it was a struggle to get her to take her medicine. All her liquids are thickened so it's easier to swallow, so I thickened her medicine mixed with some juice and spoon fed it to her. It took a while but she ate it. Jack told me I should just give her the medicine in her feeding tube, (he felt bad for her because she was sick), but I said if I did that then it meant that she still needed it.  Jasmine got through her cold with flying colors. She didn't eat much for four or five days but when she felt better she began eating and drinking more. That made me feel so much better knowing that I didn't use her feeding tube during her illness. I then had a meeting with her nutritionist through her school, along with her speech therapist and teacher. We had kept a list of what she ate for four days and she looked at that to get an idea of how much she was eating. She was pleasantly surprised , and assured me that she was getting enough nutrition and really didn't need her feeding tube. I left her school feeling so optimistic about Jasmine's future. I decided not to wait for March to go back to her gastroenterologist, and called him as soon as I got home. We made the date the Friday before Valentine's day, right after her dentist appointment. Jasmine was really growing up. She halfway allowed the dentist into her mouth to clean and examine them without carrying on like she usually does, and didn't cry on the elevator ride up to the doctors office. (She has always been very afraid on an elevator.) I even switched pediatricians once because they were on the second floor and I couldn't carry her up the steps. Her tube removal was very uneventful. He walked in, said "Oh, now you're ready?", pulled it out and covered it with some gauze and a band aid. He warned me that there was an outside chance that it wouldn't close, but we would know pretty quickly if it was going to close or not. He said if it didn't close her food would come right out of the hole in her stomach. I was not looking forward to that happening. Luckily, we didn't have to worry about that because it started closing very quickly. Three days later Jasmine went to school on Valentine's Day with a heart sign Jill made for her which hung on the back of her chair that said I love my tubeless tummy!  Her stomach is healing very nicely, but she will have yet another scar to show all that she has been through. It is so nice to be able to pick her up without worrying about pulling her g-tube out, (I only did it once) and I can't wait to go buy her a two piece bathing suit!