WiseMindedLiving

A challenging day today. Ryleigh had a rough time today. She has had two colonoscopies before and knows what to expect but she finds the drinking of the picolax very hard. So her medical team decided to put her on another type of medication to help her clear out for the scope. Ryleigh has had difficulties with this when she is feeling like eating and drinking.

One thing, I really respect about this hospital is the philosophy of child centered care. They give her choices about her care and she makes the decisions. She believed that she could not drink a large quantity because it makes her feel even yuckier. So she thought she would try the feeding tube so she would not worry about the amount of liquid she had to drink.

One of her GI nurses came from the GI clinic and helped her through it. The nurse was kind, firm and explained every step. Ryleigh was brave enough to insert the tube herself. I was very squeamish but if she could be brave then I had to be brave. It was so amazing what she did. When she first had it in she said she could feel it down the back of her throat. However, she thought she could deal with it. Unfortunately, as soon as they put the drip in her tube she started to vomit. She got scared and kept repeating that she wanted that thing out of her. Even when the nurses were trying to convince her to stick it out she said no way! She said that she would drink all that was needed.

They took it out, gave her some gravol, and then she began the drinking regime. She needed to take 600 ml of medicine and then at least 4 litres of fluid. Chloe trying to be supportive starts to chant chug it, chug it ….Ryleigh gives her famous not funny stare and says clearly “I don’t find that funny!” It is now 4 hours into process – she has had 400 ml of her medicine and 840 ml of fluid. It is doing it’s job as she is spending some time in the bathroom with her ipod. She has one more batch of medicine to drink and then about 3 more litres of fluid. It is going to be a long and late night — but she will be in the best state for the colonoscopy tomorrow. Maybe then we will get some answers to move forward on her treatment.