Darned G-Tube

We knew leaving the hospital that we would be back soon.  Mom needed to have the G-tube replaced and re-routed; a quick out-patient procedure.  Remember, this was the tube which was holding open the area of her bowel which had been patched and because of this she was unable to take anything but clear liquids by mouth.  Re-routing the tube to go directly into her stomach and no longer through the other part of her bowel would allow her to start eating by mouth again, something all of us "normal" people take for granted!

Initially, we heard that it would be scheduled sometime on Wednesday, July 10th.  By the afternoon of Monday, the 8th, we still hadn't heard from endoscopy to schedule the date and time.  Kim set about the task of getting a hold of someone and finding out when mom would be expected to show up at the U of MN for this procedure.  The next two days were a flurry of calls and texts from Kim that went something like this:

Tuesday, July 9
Endoscopy scheduled.  Thursday, July 11th at 9:30am.  Thursday I was presenting to the company's executive group, trying to convince them to change direction on the project I was leading and then I had a leadership retreat in the afternoon.  Kim had a clinic packed with patients on Thursday.  Thursday would not work for me or for Kim.

Wednesday, July 10
Endoscopy on Thursday cancelled.  Trying to confirm a Friday appointment since we would be at the U of MN for a re-check with mom's oncologist anyway.
Appointment confirmed.  Friday, July 12th at 1:00pm.  Perfect.

Thursday, July 11
Endoscopy on Friday cancelled.  Dr. V, mom's surgeon, wants it rescheduled for TODAY.  Kim and I are both at work, unable to leave.  We are both furiously texting and calling Michel, my husband, to see if he can get mom to the U of MN.  In the meantime, Kim gets a phone call from Dr. V.  He is terribly sorry but the person he wants to do mom's procedure is not available on Friday.  Mom needs to get into the U of MN ASAP.
Michel packs the kids and mom into the car and heads for the U.  He safely delivers her to the in-patient surgery lounge and Kim and I can breathe again.
After all the rush to get mom to the hospital, she ended up waiting hours to go into surgery due to some emergency surgeries that kept pushing her time slot back.  Finally, we heard she was headed into the surgical suite.  7 minutes later, Kim got a call from one of mom's surgeons.  The procedure was complete and everything went perfectly.  Mom would be ready to be picked up by 5pm.

What a day.  But, the dreaded G-tube had been moved into it's correct position and mom could now eat and drink!