Good News, Bad News, Good News....

So at the Striderling's most recent evaluation, everybody decided it was a reasonable and doable goal to get him weaned from the g-tube by the end of summer. He eats like a champ, it's liquids he struggles with.  He does okay with a yogurt drink and a straw, but has trouble with milk, formula, or water unless they add a thickener to it.

Still, he drinks about 8-10 ounces with supervision, over the course of a day, so all summer to get up to 24 ounces of liquids a day seemed manageable, even if the family is trying to pack and move by June.

That's good.

Today his mommy changed his diaper and discovered his g-tube was gone.  All of it.

That's bad.

Using her best Mommy detective skills, she realized that it must have happened when he was climbing on the couch two hours previously- which means it didn't hurt him at all, because he never winced, fussed, or cried or gave any indication of discomfort, which is good.

But the hole had started to close already since it had been two hours, which was probably bad.

After phone consults with Striderling's pediatric developmental specialist AND his endocrinologist (it's amazing the number of twelve letter specialists on a first name basis with the Striderling)- they have decided not to reinsert the tube, but just let Striderling pick the timing, which he apparently just did, for going full oral.  Tentatively good.

This means loads of extra work for his parents in supervising the downing of liquids, and more regular appointments to monitor both his weight and his calcium levels, and a sudden switch from getting his medication down him via dissolving it in liquid and pouring it down the tube to slipping a full pill in his spoonful of yogurt.
Stressful, particularly when his parents have to pack and they can't just give the boy a bottle of water and let him have at it (he can't suck from a bottle, for one thing, oddly enough, and for another, it requires total supervision), but still tentatively, well

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!

He just might be done wtih the g-tube.  Who would have thought it, 18 months ago when we were all in the NICU weeping, praying, and hoping, never expecting to be here, at this point, at this time.