I mentioned a while back that Casey has been having some issues with granulation tissue around her G-Tube. This is common so I am not to worried about it. However she is refusing to stay off of it when she lays down so the tissue just can’t seem to heal. When she lays on it and puts a sideways pressure around the seal it just makes such a mess. The moisture from the leakage is just making healing impossible. We use 2×2 little split gauze around the tube and hole to try and keep it dry but we can easily go through 5-10 of these in a day.
Recently I was online reading up on some sites dealing with moisture and granulation tissue to see if I could find any new ideas that may work. I came across a site similar to Casey’s (a family member set one up to post updates on their special needs child). Jackson’s site offers G-Tube pads. These are a great idea. His mother must have gone through 2×2’s as quick as we do. She started making 3 layers of absorbent soft material that can be snapped around the G-Tube.
We ordered a set of the girl print pads for Casey. Overall I really do like these and would recommend them to other G-Tube parents. We used one right after we got them and it did a great job of absorbing the leakage. We left it on Casey for about 10-12 hours and it seemed great. When we put it on we noticed it was thicker than her usual 2×2’s and so it did fit a bit more snug.
Casey’s site is pretty raw and the extra pressure from the snug fit did cause her to bleed a lot. We should have taken some of the water out of her balloon before putting on the pad. We decided to let her site heal a little bit more then we will try the new pads again. I think as long as we let out a little bit of the balloon she should do great. When we first got them we showed her all of the prints. She really seemed excited about them. She loves to pick out her clothes and stuff so this was one more thing she could pick out.
Anyway, for any other G-Tube parent out there looking for alternatives to the 2×2’s I do recommend Jackson’s G-Tube Pads. Just be sure that you adjust your water level if it seems snug. I will put a link to the site on Casey’s resources under friends too if anyone needs it later.