For Those of You Who Ask....

As you all know, Keegan has a Mickey Button which he is fed Nutren Jr, (formula) through in order to get the nutrition and calories that he does not get because HE DOES NOT EAT...ugh.

We have been asked many times how it stays in and how it is "fixed" when it pops out. Well when we took the kids swimming at Aunt Noodle's on Sat. Keegan kept complaining that his button was hurting (not normal). The next morning we checked it and saw that the stem was discolored and decided we needed to change it. Keegan was VERY unhappy but we explained that it was going to pop and we didn't want that to happen at school.

So....Morg and I took pictures while I assisted Troy in changing the button and Breckyn did her part by rubbing his head and talking so sweetly yo him. Enjoy :)

Ok, hopefully you can see that the stem going into the stomach is a brownish color.

On the side of his button is a little "hook up", where we use a locking syringe to put water in or take it out of the "balloon" type part of the button inside his stomach that keeps it from coming out.

Here you can see the syringe attached to the old button and the pee colored water that came out of it...the other syringe has clean water the same color that was originally put in. This shows that there WAS a hole somewhere and his stomach "stuff" us getting in.

This is Troy pulling out the old button.

Here is the hole....it looks like a pink bellybutton.

Sorry for the weak stomachs of some of you....but this is the old button. You can see the grouse color of it and it looks a little like a raisin. This is caused from his stomach acid and whatever else is or is not in that tummy of his.

This is the NEW button (see how clean & pretty). To put it in, we get his kit that has it all. We use KY Jelly to make it go in easier so it won't pull on his tummy since the hole immediately starts slowly closing and the longer the time the more it hurts him. We also use one of the long wooden cotton swabs to put in the stem to keep it firm. Since it is like rubber, we would not be able to get it in.

Pushing it in.

After it is in, we get the locking syringe and add between 4 & 7 ml of water. We usually add 4 and check it about 1 a month. If it is pulling to far out, we add more and then we can see if it is leaking.

IT IS IN!! All better & prettier.

Last step is to put water in through where he is fed and listen with the stethoscope to make sure I hear gurgling sounds which will tell us that it is in the right place.

This is his "trying" to be brave smile. He likes this picture only because he thinks it looks like he has 4 arms. LOL

He has done this sooooo many times, yet it is still scary to him. I don't blame him. This boy has been through more in his short little life than most do in a lifetime.

And just to update you on surgeries...The Endoscopy will be on April 17 and he will have his tonsils and adenoids removed on June 1. We pushed this one back because they told me it could be up to a 2 week recovery due to pain and he already has 15 absences due to being sick or Dr. visits.