New Tube, New Side

              Yesterday was Saturday the 28th and I had an appointment with my home healthcare nurse Tracy, to change my tube. I am not going to lie, although I had it in once before I was still nervous about changing my tube again. Can you believe it, it has already been 4 weeks since we started Enteral Therapy! Well it was almost time. Tracy was coming to the house at 4:00 and it was 3:55. The dogs were barking, Tracy was here and it was now time to change the tube. I was getting REALLY NERVOUS.

However, I knew that because Tracy does it so fast, it would be over and done with in about a minute. Then, the words that came out of Tracy's mouth really took me by surprise. She said "Okay, you need to go and get your little mirror because YOU ARE PUTTING THE TUBE IN YOURSELF." EXCUSE ME ... WHAT DID YOU SAY? Yes, Tracy just told me I had to put the tube in myself. I was like REALLY, and I just could not believe what I just heard?

Still not believing what I had to do, I went upstairs and grabbed my mirror, went back into my kitchen and sat down. I had to put the tube in my left nostril so that I could give my right nostril a break. After a few tries, I realized that the tube kept on getting stuck in the same spot. I was ready to cry I was really upset and now my nose was irritated which made getting it in even harder. My mom even had to leave the room, she was ready to cry.

Then, I tried one more time and still nothing. This just wasn't working, but I was going to give it one last try. This time I twisted and pushed and again it got stuck. Finally, my dad told me to push it up and helped me to get it past the part where it kept getting stuck. IT WORKED! Once you get it through your nose, it's easy. Then you just push it down. It was really stressful, but I did it and I am proud of myself! Well at the end it was all good because I got a monkey sticker to put on my face. Now I can say that I put the tube in and took it out all by myself ..... hahaha bye!