Feeding Tube Test Day

Thursday morning, October 24rd, was test day. As directed, we began pumping the food very slowly and diluted three parts water to one part food.  After less than one tablespoon, the results were not good! I had an allergic response. The swelling in my throat got much worse making it difficult to breathe, eyes and nose were running, hands and feet began to itch as well as the inside my ears.  There was no way I going to be able to ingest 1600 cc’s a day of this  full strength. I wanted to cry but that actually made it harder to breathe. I tried to stay as calm as possible but the throat pain was really testing me. Mr. Hero made the call to my specialist with the news. I would now need a PICC line, which stands for peripherally inserted central catheters. It is used to give special IV nutrition called TPN. We would need to wait on insurance approval, who knows how long that would take. There was a lot of red tape involving both my primary doctor, my specialist and the insurance company. It was now day five with no food. The prayer warriors sprang into action once again.

About noon, I received a call from my new home health company, Vital Systems of Oklahoma, checking on how the test went that morning. I told them it was not good. They mentioned that they not only have the ability to provide TPN but could even place the PICC line in my home. They work well with my insurance company and can usually get approval within 24 hours. Wow! That was incredible news. They jumped in and worked with both of my doctors and the insurance company. They got authorization for the PICC line to be placed.

My TPN and supplies were scheduled to be delivered the next day, we were still waiting for authorization for that part. At first I was nervous about getting the line in because what if they denied the food? It was going to be day 6 no food and it was Friday. If the last authorization did not come in I would be waiting over the weekend and it would be day 9 at the soonest before I would be able to start receiving nutrition. This was not like a fast where you go without food for several days or weeks. I was in a very weakened state with very little food for the last four weeks.  Vital Systems called back to say they would be sending me 5 days of food and supplies. They felt very confident the approval would come through but didn’t want me sick over the weekend. What great customer service! You don’t hear of companies putting the patient first like that, well uh…. ever. By 8:00 pm my new PICC nurse was in my bed room with a portable ultrasound, portable X-Ray, an X-ray tech, and was placing my line. What a miracle!!