We finally were able to trade in that long, awkward g-tube that Patrick liked to get caught in his toes. On the 13th, Patrick’s GI replaced it with a mic-key button. This is small port with a tiny tube that goes directly into his stomach. We can snap a tube into the button to use for feeding or any other needed access to his stomach. But, when it’s not in use, he has only the much smaller button to worry about.
Tummy time, wearing pants, and zerbets are all now much easier.
You may be asking, well do you use his button? What’s it there for? Well, the goal of an “enteral feeding tube” is to put food or medicine directly into Patrick’s stomach without him needing to take it orally. Now, anyone who knows Patrick knows that he loves to eat. However, we’re hoping someday to be able to use this tube to feed him overnight so he can sleep through the 
night. There’s a pump that will pump formula from an iv-style bag into his stomach at a nice slow rate.
We tried doing just that over the past couple of weeks. However, we’ve learned that Patrick so far doesn’t sleep soundly enough for it to be worth the extra effort. Because food is going directly into his stomach, we were giving him smaller oral feedings during the night… but Patrick didn’t think that was enough and was quite vocal all morning most mornings letting us know he wanted more.
So – right now we’re not using button. However, we’re hoping someday to use it and finally let Patrick sleep a whole night long.
Patrick Hoopes 