Thanks much everyone; we're very appreciative of your kind thoughts and words.
Marla has finally come home! It's been tough though... as she has a (temporary) gastrostomy tube in her stomach; but she is not tolerating the enteral formulas very well. It may take some time; but i strongly suspect that there are other factors... benefiber was added (finally) toward the end of the day today; and we are discussing the posibility of providing the feedings through an enteral gravity bag (rather than through syringes as we are now using), which would slow down the rate and would probably help with assimilation. Thank goodness, i have a lot of experience with providing enteral feedings; i've done it for years in my classroom with the handicapped students.
It's been an insane day. Today i spent tons of time on the phone trying to get things changed or altered with her enteral feeding. The dietitians at Rush Presbyterian St. Lukes

, today, told me that they would not deal with me over the phone regarding Marla's problems with the enteral feedings. They said that it was a confidentiality issue, and that they do not counsel people over the phone regarding such things; then i was told to call Marla's primary physician. i couldn't believe it! Then i later called a very nice and compassionate speech pathologist at Rush, who had helped Marla with Barium Swallow testing. The speech pathologist had a friend at Rush who was a dietitian. Her friend called us later... and stated that it is fine to discuss issues over the phone regarding enteral feedings! Throughout the day, i received information from various agencies regarding what to do concerning the enteral feedings... a lot of the information totally contradicted what other agencies had told us! Anyway, i am very concerned, as she can't swallow anything... and if she regurgitates anything, it would go into her lungs causing aspiration. This evening, she was doing better with the feedings!... so i hope that that continues.
Though i don't believe in prayers, i am very appreciative of the many people who offer them. i had some great talks with the visiting chaplain at the hospital (regarding the nature and dynamics of "praying"); i think that he understood my points of view regarding the subject... which was cool at the time.
Tom P.
Illinois_______ (excerpt from E. E. Cummings: "How many winds make wonderful... and is luck The skeleton of life")