Well I had to go back to the ER today because my feeding tube started leaking food from around it again. This wasn't the first time it leaked food, but it was the second time it leaked food, mostly seeds and chocolate milk. I had been previously instructed to go to the ER in the event it leaked food a second time like this. The Night before, on the 24th, I had been to the ER because my feeding tube started leaking from around the tube, contents from my stomach. It leaked out seeds from a bun, chocolate milk, and mountain dew. I'm sure that it leaked out other food items too because the drainage was alot of different colors. My Doctor had called and left a message on my answering machine, which I recieved after I got home from the ER the night of the 24th. I called him back, and he instructed me to go back to the ER if my feeding tube leaked any more food items from around the tube, that he would admit me, and remove my tube within the next few days of being admitted. But, if my tube was fine over the weekend, the office would call me and schedule me to have the tube taken out someday that next week. I told him okay, and that was fine with me. We hung up, and I went to bed. Now, tonight at the ER, the 26th, it leaked again (like I have already said). I told the ER doctor what was up. Thankfully it was the same exact ER doctor from the night before, so she already knew what had happened the day before with my feeding tube. It didn't tke them long at all to get me admitted, and taken up to my room. No one came to see me that night, or to tell me anything about having my tube taken out. I wasn't allowed anything to eat after midnight, and even at that I was only allowed water to take with my pills. This morning around 9:30am, suprisingly 2 of my GI doctors showed up in my room, and took me downstairs to the GI lab to have my feeding tube removed. I was very shocked at how fast this happened. I thought for sure that they couldn't do this type pf procedure on the weekend, but they did! When I was taken down to the GI lab, all the lights were out and it was all closed down, except for one of the rooms where they do procedures. That's the room they took me into. I was pretty scared because I didn't have any idea of what was going to happen to me, or how they removed Feeding J-Tubes from your abdomen. First they sedated me, then they clamped off the exterior part of the feeding tube, and cut it off. Then they went down my throat and into my stomach with the endoscopy scope, and un-clamped the white clamp thing that was holding the feeding tube in my stomach, and pulled all of it out through the hole in my abdomen, and they were done. That's how easy it was. I remember most of it, even though I was sedated. I remember yelling alot too. They watched me for a little while after words, until I becme more awake, then they took me back to my room. They said that I could leave at 6pm. I got back to my room around almost 1pm. I slept for a few hours, then I was awake, and watching TV for the rest of the time. They had also said I could have clear liquids at 6pm. At 5:15pm the dinner trays came around, and I happened to get a clear liquid tray. There was some chicken broth on it, and 2 small containers of grape juice. I thought that they were letting me have clear liquids sooner than 6pm, so I opened the containers of grape juice, and drank almost all of them. I was so thirsty, I totally forgot I even had the hole in my stomach, from the feeding tube they had just removed. Only about 2 minutes after drinking the juice, I decided to go into the bathroom and change the dressing on the hole from my feeding tube. I stood up and felt a burning pain in my stomach, but went on into the bathroom. When I got inside the bathroom, I looked at the bandage that was covering up the hole, and it was purple. I thought that maybe a little bit of juice leaked out, and removed the gauze bandage, then all of a sudden *gush* (it seemed like) and this purple straem starting pouring out of the hole. It wouldn't stop, and I had nothing to soak it up with. The purple stream went down my abdomen, down my underwear, and down my leg on to my foot and then the ground. I yelled for my mom. It was a very scary sight to see the same thing you just drank, coming out a hole in your abdomen. Very very very scary. She grabbed some cloths, and then my nurse came in the room and seen what was happening, so she went and got some more gauze. I went and sat on my bed, opening packages of gauze, holding them against my leak, soaking up all the grape juice. It never wanted to stop leaking. It eventually did stop, about 10 minutes later, after all the juice drained out, or got below the level of the hole in my abdomen and stomach. My Nurse even went over the discharge instructions with me while I was still leaking purple grape juice from my abdomen. After it did stop it just burned and burned and burned. I was finally able to get dressed so I could leave and go home. Yay. I felt fine, except for the fact my abdomen was burning like it was, but it did get better on the way home. I reclined my chair slightly, and put some cream on the hole, and changed the wet dressing again. Little did I know that this would be the only night I would spend home and that I'd be returning to the ER the next day.

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