MATH!

Posted by Jenean…

As many of you know- I am horrible at math. Not only am I not skilled at it- but it scares me because it is a known weakness- so it is something that I actively avoid.  I joke often that I went to law school so that I never had to do math again.  My iphone calculator is an integral tool in my life. 

That is the background to this update- our days are not full of math- and very important math.  And I am expected not to screw it up! Boy are we in trouble!!!

Hannah is not able to eat any food by mouth- so she needs to get all of her nutrition through her feeding tube. I never had an appreciation for how complicated this can be. 

The nurses have been working to train me at the bedside, as one person needs to be responsible for her feeding tube and nourishment equipment. During every training I make sure to alert the nurses that while I will do the physical labor, it is safer if Hannah to help and be responsible for the MATH!  This has become a running joke and at times we have used our “phone a lifeline” to call either Aidan or Kevin at home to do/check our math for us to make sure we have the correct amounts/settings on the pump.

We have to place a certain amount of calories through her feeding tube over a certain period of time.  Also, she needs a certain amount of water or fluids as well.  She is encouraged to try to drink these, but if she can’t, we have to subtract was she was able to drink by mouth from the total number she drank, and we have to put that through the tube as well, but we cant run the tube too fast or it will make her sick so we need to calculate the “run rate” and the amount that needs to flow through it of both the food and the water.  Just to complicate matters further, we can only place enough food for eight hours at a time in the bag that feeds the tube, so we need to calculate the amount she needs to run over the amount of time it needs to run in 24 hours (or 22 hours as we are working to condense it so she does not have to have it in the shower/bathroom)- that is the “run rate”.  Then we take the run rate and figure out the volume over 22 or 24 hours (depending on the day and how much we were able to get in the day before) with respect to the food.  And if we need to stop the pump or we have a calculation- we need to figure it out again.  Then we need to figure out what an 8 hour dose is- and work from there.  To many of you math geniuses out there- this may seem easy- but to me, who is mathematically challenged – this is scary stuff.  But rest assured, I have found a solution to both my skill challenges and the mental blocks that are attached to my avoidance of math.  We have a three-tiered system.  First, I do the initial calculations- then I ask Hannah to do them- she needs to be involved in this and understand how her nutrition is working- then we have hired a “double check us so we don’t screw this up” expert- and his name is Aidan (Hannah’s twin who is very math oriented and skilled and CLEARLY did not inherit this trait from me).  He is our official math guru and overseer.  We use this process both to set our numbers at the start of the day but also with modifications and updates for food, run rates and fluids along the way.  Our system has become quite the giggle and talk of the nurses on 9 South- as they often hear us calling our “expert” for approval on our math. 

I wish I still had the contact info for my “Math for Liberal Arts Majors” professor in college who was the first person who I was clear with that I intended to find a profession which had NO math and all I needed to do was pass his class so that I could graduate and move on with my life “math free”. I am not sure if he would laugh at me right now or use me as a teaching tool- but I am pretty sure it would bring a smile to his face to see the hours of math in my day now and the importance of not screwing it up- the health of a precious, brave and determined 12 year old.  – Jenean