Nick swallows air. The air in his stomach builds up rather quickly. If he doesn’t get vented regularly throughout the day, especially when he’s bloated, that air passes into his intestines. The result? Crazy, very uncomfortable distension. You want to avoid this by venting the air out of his stomach every 15 – 20 minutes. More if you find that there are a lot of bubbles when he’s vented.

Vent him before meals.

Vent him after meals.

Vent him before he gets meds.

Wait at least 20 minutes after he gets meds. If anything comes back out, flush it back in with filtered water in a 10ml syringe.

Vent him throughout the day.

Vent him all night long using a modified feeding bag. If you don’t, he will be extremely distended by morning.

How to Vent Nick

The Y port extension tube stays attached to him all day. If it’s not attached:

  • Get a Y port extension tube.
  • Clamp the tube shut.
  • Close one port.
  • Attach a large syringe (30ml – 35ml or larger) with the plunger removed to the large port. This is to catch anything that comes out of his stomach.
  • Hook the extension tube to Nick’s Mic-Key button (look at his stomach – it’s the feeding tube that goes in his stomach). Attach the tube, making sure it is in all the way.
  • Turn it clockwise. There’s an arrow to show you how to lock it in. Pull on it gently to make sure it’s locked in.
  • Tip Nick in his wheelchair a little bit, or lay him down if he’s sitting in bed.
  • Unclamp the tube.
  • Let the air out.
  • Use the plunger to the syringe to push in just a little bit of air, to unclog the tube.
  • Pull the plunger back out very gently to see if you can get any more air out. I repeat this process until I don’t get a lot of air.
  • If stomach contents are in the extension tube when you’re done, this needs to be put back into his stomach. Gently use the plunger of the syringe to push the stomach contents back into his stomach.

If you do this consistently, Nick’s abdomen won’t get all that distended. It will still get a bit distended. If you have been doing this faithfully and if he’s distended lower down on his abdomen, on his left side, he probably needs to poop. I use liquid glycerin with a very smooth, 3ml syringe to help him go. He rarely goes on his own.