The enteral pump is the device used to get the feed into the stomach via the PEG. The top photo below shows the pump and stand in situ by the bed. At the moment Chris has a 500ml bag of feed during the night which drips in over 7 hours. I have set this bag up and primed it, (that is, pumped the feed through to the end of the Giving set tube) otherwise he would have a tube full of air pumped into him and that wouldn't be comfortable. When Chris is ready to sleep I flush his PEG tube with a syringe full of fresh water and then attach the Giving set to his PEG tube and switch the pump on. An alarm goes off around 6.30am where by I switch off the pump, remove the Giving set from the PEG and then flush the PEG tube through with fresh water to clear any feed that is left in it. It is very easy once you get the hang of it and Chris is getting used to sleeping on his side in a semi upright position rather than lying down.
The second photo shows the little storage unit we have by the bed. The brown boxes contain the feed which are prescribed and delivered here direct from the company. Fortunately Chris now has a medical exemption certificate for his prescriptions. The top drawer contains the Giving sets as a new one has to be used everyday. These connect the feed bag to the PEG tube. The second drawer contains the enteral syringes for flushing the PEG tube, for putting in any liquid feed via the PEG and for any medication in the future when Chris can no longer swallow. Again a new one has to be used everyday. The third drawer contains the end pieces for the PEG tube where the syringe attaches as these do wear out and they last about 3 weeks or more.
It is amazing how soon this all becomes second nature and shows just how adaptable and accepting us human beings can be when we have no choice.
