Pureed vs. Strained
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| Dad and Kyra enjoy the hospital's rooftop garden. |
“Of course,” they responded, “When she’s off clear liquids,
we’ll order her a pureed diet.”
I then let out my breath, assured and somewhat amazed that
Kyra’s unconventional g-tube meals would be honored by the hospital without us
putting up a fight.
During Kyra’s pre-operative visits, we stressed to every
medical team we saw that canned g-tube formula makes her sick and exacerbate
her seizures, and that she eats blended and strained foods through her
g-tube. Although they seemed to
understand our concern, and said it would be no problem, I was uneasy about
whether we would be pressured to use canned g-tube formula during Kyra’s
hospital stay. (When an anesthesiology
technician said, “Oh, YOU’RE the one!” I began to think that perhaps we had
been getting our point across to someone.)
Just to be sure, I brought our Traveling Kitchen with us to
the hospital. The clear liquid diet was
no problem. Pretty much any clear liquid
works with a g-tube (broth, water, apple juice). But, when the time came to start her regular
diet, we reminded her medical team of Kyra’s dietary needs, and they ordered her
a pureed diet, telling us we could order anything off the patient menu in
pureed form.
By ordering several single-ingredient foods in pureed form
(aided by very knowledgeable and friendly “Moose on the Loose” meal staff) we
were able to make Kyra’s hospital meals similar to the meals she eats at
home. During our stay in the hospital, we
mixed and matched servings of pureed chicken, beef, pork, scrambled eggs,
broccoli, carrots, green beans, spinach, peaches, bananas, apple sauce, broth,
juices, yogurt, and fruit smoothies.
When her first meal tray arrived (chicken, broccoli, and
chicken broth) I got Kyra’s strainer out of her Traveling Kitchen, and tested
the bowl of pureed chicken. I
immediately discovered that pureed and blended are two very different
textures. Very little of the pureed chicken
passed the strainer test. So, with her handy-dandy
travel blender (another Traveling Kitchen item), I blended the pureed foods so
they could be strained and fed without clogging Kyra’s g-tube. Total success.
During the several days that Kyra ate real food while in the
hospital, I got lots of odd looks and double-takes in the parents’ kitchenette
as I blended and strained Kyra’s meals.
“Are you one of those juicing health freaks?” One bleary-eyed
dad asked as he punched the button on the coffee dispenser.
“No, just a g-tube freak,” I answered.
“Huh,” he responded as he slapped a lid on his coffee cup
and left the kitchenette.
Maybe our public display of real food planted a seed of
possibility for another g-tube user.
Maybe not. I smiled anyway. I
know it works for us. (Seizure-free for 16 months and counting...)
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