Just to save everyone from repetition, I will not include his diagnoses since all of them are pretty much new to me as well.
NG - Nasogastric Feeding tube - Not only did I learn that it is a feeding tube which is fed through a nostril, past the esophagus and into the stomach to provide nutrition to those unable to safely swallow, but I also learned how to place one and what to look for to ensure proper insertion. If not done correctly, they can come out the mouth or end up in the airway and you'll have to restart the process. As you can see below, it is a rather long tube that then gets taped to the face and (if you have a little one who likes to pull it out) pinned to their top then dangles down. His is down past the orange label.
The G-Tube (Gastric Feeding tube) by contrast goes straight into the stomach bypassing the esophagus. It can be the kind that dangles and is taped down for safety (again if you have a child who likes to pull on it) or it might be a button like the Mic-Key I have mentioned in the past. The dangling kind is put in at the hospital while a Mic-Key can be changed out by just about anybody.
Postictal - The recovery period right after a seizure. Of the two that Ethan went through they were quite different. The first took about 9 hours for him to be more himself again and the second was much less as he responded a bit to the EMS guy when he picked Ethan up to bring him into the ambulance and was more responsive in the ER.
Interstitial - In Ethan's case, unfortunately this seems to a not so uncommon thing with his IV. What happens is the IV catheter moves out of the vein causing pain and swelling. This seems to be Ethan's typical way to blow an IV. The January/February 2011 visit he did this twice. The first time was prior to his visit to the PCCU. As you can see his hand got really swollen and he was crying out in pain before I discovered it. It was swollen to his elbow and took a long time to go back to normal.
He blew the second IV just as he was ending his seven day course of IV antibiotics. As has happened in the past, he was switched to oral antibiotics.
Tachycardic - Fast heart rate, over 100 beats per minute. (Ethan has been having issues with this the past few admissions - December 2010 to March 2011.)
Tracheal Tug - Despite the definitions I found on line about it relating to an aneurysm, for Ethan this is when he is working really hard to breathe and you see the part at the bottom of his neck where the rib cage starts tug in a lot. Clayton was joking you could put a cup of water into the tug, but at his worst this admission it has likely been at least a 1/4 cup or even 1/2 cup. (March 2011)
Tachypnic - Rapid breathing, quick shallow breaths. (Again, this has been a big issue for Ethan in his past admissions - December 2010 to March 2011.)
