Day four with my cold and I can see the faintest light at the end of the tunnel. I pull out all the tricks when I’m sick, but none more important than hammering away with my feeding tube. I’m the kind of person who hates eating when I get sick. I just have absolutely no desire to suffer through a meal when I can’t taste it or smell it.
Enter my feeding tube. I lean on my feeding tube most when I am feeling crappiest. I’m looking at 2500-3000 calories per day through my g-tube when I’m not feeling well. Since food is medicine, it helps. I use my super smoothie bolus feeds during the day and then rely on my overnight feeds for a bigger dose of nutrition. Admittedly, sleep has been hard to come by with this round of whatever is going on in my sinus region. At least last night’s 6 hours was a marked improvement over the previous night’s 5.
Sleep is the ever forceful balancing act when I’m sick, though. I really have to dig deep to justify an overnight tube feed when I’m sick and achy. My body craves both sleep and food, so I generally alternate feeds with skip nights until I can get over the hump and onto the upswing to health, at which point I’ll pound away with nightly feeds.
Beyond feeds, I can rely on my g-tube for extra hydration during illness. My super smoothie is bathed in bone broth, and I find it to be extremely helpful. I’ll also use my g-tube to take the not-so-good-tasting liquid medications or supplements. If you’ve been reading, you know I’m a big believer in NAC to fight inflammation, and since I dissolve NAC in a bottle of water, I just shoot it right down the g-tube. The best part is I don’t have to taste it. I do the same with Emergen-C (which I don’t actually think works, but I take it to appease my mom) and Alka Seltzer Cold tabs. With all of those dissolvables, I water them down to kill two birds with one stone, really just in a determined effort to keep my pee clear.
At the end of the day, a virus, or even if what I’m dealing with is, in fact, a sinus infection, has to run it’s course. It takes a few days of Hell to feel better, and I know it’s challenging to do it against the backdrop of feeling like crap, but effort is my middle name, and I’ll keep it up if I have to.
