Tube-Free!

Just a quick 4th of July post to tell the whole world that James is tube-free for the first time in his life!!!!! He will be 11 months old in one week. We have been weening him off it for 10 days now, but today I noticed that the tube was not working properly. We had to take him to the ER. He had managed to pull it out of the track, but not all the way out of his abdomen. It was odd and not at all comfortable for him. The on-call surgeon we saw in the ER agreed that it had to come out and a replacement wasn't necessary since James is doing so well on his oral feeds! It was the fastest and best ER trip ever, and hopefully the last time we will see the inside of Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh.

Right now James just has a bandage over the site. Most j-tube stomas will close on their own in a day or two. We will go see a surgeon in a week or so to have it checked to make sure it closes properly. There is a slight chance he might have to have stitches then if it doesn't close on its own.

We are so excited to have the tube out. We are celebrating by making James' first trip to a pool with his cousins tomorrow!