Tube Feed and Lost Independence
Even though I was only twelve years old, I would then proceed to give myself all my own medications. This was not an easy feat. I had to crush all the tablets with a pill crusher. Then I had to open all the capsules and measure out all the liquids. After that, I had to mix the slurry of medication with hot water and draw it up into a syringe. Then I had to draw up a second syringe of 10 ml of water. At a slow steady rate, I had to inject the medication into the end of my NJ tube. I followed up the meds with a syringe of water. At that point, I hooked the end of my NJ tube up to the new bag of tube feed. The tube feed was all ready to go. I just had to hit start on the feeding pump. Then I put the NJ tube feed and pump into my backpack and was ready to go.