What is a G-Tube?

Sum of ya’lls have wundered what all this mess is w/ a G-Tube. I’s will enlighten. Since Charlie cain’t swallow nun too well there fittin to set him up w/ a tube so as we can use to feed him when we go orda tha house. It’s pert near the simplest idear you could come up w/ to feed a boy. They put a tube agin in his gut w/ a lid on it. See’in as how the feller cain’t swalller near as good a he used to could they figger this’ll be best. We aint never gonna know if it'll be a forever thing but I think Char might could swallow again and then they can git her out in a jiffy. STOP! I can’t do it, that was the hardest thing yet for me to type but I wanted Thacker, Shannon, Shane, Bruce, Landon, Whit, Marilee, anyone at Ralph Smith Trucking, Railroaders and anyone named Zeke to understand what is going on.
People w/ indoor plumbing version: G-Tube is short for gastronomy tube and is the most appropriate way to nourish those who have upper airway issues and or muscular instability, conditions that often lead to food/liquid going down the wrong pipe and into the lungs which leads to aspiration, all bad. With Charlie he still doesn’t have a gag reflex or a great cough making oral feeding improbable at this point, not to mention his jaw is clamped so tight that we can’t even see if he has any new teeth coming in. (He had two when we got here.) A G-tube is a small tube that is surgically inserted in the abdomen creating a portal to the stomach. However in Charlie’s case a J-tube or a GJ-tube we feel is a more viable option. A J-tube is inserted in the same way but it bypasses the stomach and feeds the jejunum, a portion of the small intestine. We like this idea better because there isn’t the risk of vomiting and subsequent aspiration. A GJ-tube is a combination of both. The issue w/ a G-tube is that they would most likely perform a “nissen” (procedure where the esophagus is tied off where it meets the stomach to prevent any thing coming up that might cause aspiration.) at the same time and that is irreversible and from what we here they don’t always work as desired. Long story short, G, J or GJ-tubes are all ways to get my boy fed until he can eat on his own, we hope. If this answer was insufficient to inquiring minds that’s what you get for asking a railroader medical questions. So all you’en have a good night now ya hear. (you’en = ya’ll plus 3.)