In Which The Other Shoe Drops and I Have "The Talk

OK, remember how I said I was taking solace in the fact that supportive measures for nutrition have never come up? Yeah, that was nice while it lasted.

Today I saw the wonderful GI who diagnosed my GP.. I hadn't seen her in nearly a year . She has kept up pretty well. though with the rest of my team. I could tell by the way she looked at me that she was shocked at the weight loss. I told her that the pacer had worked really really well for the first two weeks. In the last four though, I've lost ground. To the point that I'm back to liquids, and my best days are 700ish calorie days. I told her that, and she said,"You can't do that." Uh, OK clearly I can't anymore. I have been having more and more trouble doing simple things like transfering out of the shower. In the last two months, I have had four or five instances where it has taken me from close to hour to nearly two hours to make the move between my bath chair and my wheelchair. I get light-headed and am weak when this happens. Fun times! We're talking six inches here people, not the Grand Canyon!

After I told her that, she got really quiet for a minute and the look on her face told me she was trying to either make or articulate a difficult choice. What came next were the words I've  kept buried in the back of my mind for the last 18 months. I think as my idea of what worst-case scenario could be.

"Did Dr. B. or Motility Specialist. ever talk to you about gastronomy tubes?" (This will always and forever be known as a g-tube.)

"No."

"I think that might be your next step." She proceeded to explain what I knew. A g-tube is a surgically placed tube that would allow a nutritonally complete formula to be fed directly into my stomach. I think there should be a "j" component where the feed goes to the small intestine, skipping the stomach entirely. She said it would be used at night mainly if we go ahead. She was hopeful that supplementing my nutrition this way would help improve my strength and help me begin to move forward. In the meantime, we made some  changes medication changes to see if that helps.

So, my worst case scenario is moving closer day-by day. There are definte pros and cons, but they are too many to relate.


Here goes nothing... She is going to get with Dr. B. and make a plan.As long as I feel better, I'd go to a shaman.