My experience of… Having an NG Tube

I’m going to go back in time again. Thought I’d do a review of my experience of having an NG tube.

An NG tube is a Nasal Gastric Tube that goes up the nose, down the throat and into the stomach. When it’s inserted a pH test needs to be done to test that its in the right part of the stomach. (this is done by using a syringe to aspirate stomach acid from the stomach and putting the acid on a pH scale bit of paper)

It is used for people who struggle to intake food and sometimes fluids orally.

Some people rely on this tube to get the nutrients they need as they can’t intake anything orally. In this case, a lot of the time these people end up having a mic-key button inserted. Which does the same thing but is more of a permanent, reliable tube. (although not entirely permanent – it can be removed)

I had a mic-key button inserted after so many months of using an NG tube due to the fact that, even though I fortunately can still eat and drink, I don’t orally intake enough to keep myself going (but I have got better with this over the last few years!)

Anyway, back to the NG tube.

Personally, I wasn’t too keen on the NG tube. It felt weird when it was inserted (I think it had to be changed every few weeks too – so I had to go through the discomfort of inserting regularly) and it didn’t look nice sitting on the face.

I learnt to try and embrace it – I had to. Despite knowing the looks I’d get, I still went out with friends, went to school and went to the shops with others, using all the strength I had at the time. I wanted to try and still lead a normal life whilst being in and out of hospital, having treatment to help build me up and having numerous tests.

I saw people stare at me. I saw people point at my face. I saw kids point and ask their parents what that was on my face. But you know what. I didn’t have time to worry about it. I just smiled and carried on.

There were times I’d look at myself in the mirror and briefly see a sick, horrible looking face. I tried wearing make-up but the tube did not make it look good. I cried sometimes looking at myself in the mirror thinking I genuinely look like a sick person. How did I get to this?

But then something would click…

I’d have a brief flashback of what I looked like just a few years earlier.. I had a sickness bug (well.. Back then I thought it was but looking back now.. It was one of the first signs of my body telling me something wasn’t right). During this ‘sickness bug’ I was laying in my mum and dad’s bed feeling weak and vulnerable. I turned my head to look at myself in the mirror. No joke.. I looked like a zombie. I had no fat or muscle on my face, my eyes had sunken in… The image still haunts me to this day.

This flashback reminded me of how sick I actually was and how much that tube was helping me become healthy. And how much I was actually rocking the tube!!! 😉😂

I took selfies – both smiley and silly. And I made jokes (including one which involved me panicking a student nurse by sucking my cheeks in as she was trying to asperate – I think that’s the right word! – my tube😂😅)

I learnt to embrace it… Until I finally had it removed and had the mic-key button replace it.

Yes, I embraced it… But I was so bloody glad to get rid of it!

The discomfort of inserting it, the itchyness and the rash it formed on my cheeks, all of which I don’t miss.

Yes, I still would love to be completely tube-free at some point… But I’m comfortable having a tube for now.. Especially as the one I have currently is hidden and not as uncomfortable inserting!!