Do You Know What A Pouchkin Is?

It's the thing stuck to the front of my kid, that's what. I'll have to post some pics tomorrow (lil man is finally sleeping). At least for now the $22 tube of "anorectal protectant" is out of commision. The wound care powers that be have decided that a new approach is in order.. imagine that.

We are going from wet and sticky to dry and crusty. Sounds good, I'm tired of oozey and wet anyway.

The new arsenal consists of the "magic powder" called stomahesive, cavilon barrier film spray (sprinkle the powder, spritz the cavilon over it).. and voila! You get instant scab.. pretty cool. It actually creates a dry barrier around the stoma instead of a wet barrier from a cream. Then you layer a thin strip of "dough" (don't ask) directly over the irritated area and the scabby that's just been created. Over that a pouchkin is placed. It's basically a pediatric colostomy bag. It goes over the "dough" and adheres to the belly. This allows the leaky stoma to drain freely into the bag as we wait for it to heal. Just like a colostomy, when the bag fills with gastric drainage we can empty it and measure exactly how much nutrition he is losing, and if all goes well after a period of time (a short one I'm hoping) it will lessen and then stop.

Terri said it already looks as if the tract is regranulating (making new tissue) around the new tube. The last kiddo they had that was "pouched" healed in about three weeks.. Argh.

I did have the bravery to go there and ask what comes next if this doesn't work. She said that the last resort would be to yank this toobie and place a new one in a new site. Cause God knows we really enjoyed the first go round.

Tomorrow I'll take some pics of all our new gizmos and potions. Until then I'm gonna kick back and watch my baby sleep peacefully with his baggy full of dinner juices.. Mmmm.