By Jeannie Gaffigan, Writer and Producer of The Jim Gaffigan Show
In late 2016,
I was experiencing crushing headaches, frequent falls, severe fatigue, and a
rattling cough. As a wife, mother of five, and the writer and executive
producer for The Jim Gaffigan Show, I thought I was just run down or had the
flu. It wasn’t until April 2017 that I found out I had a rare and benign tumor
the size of a tennis ball growing within my brain stem.
Two fast paced weeks later, I underwent a nine-hour surgery to
have the life-threatening tumor removed. And thanks to my amazing medical team,
it was successful.
But recovery,
didn’t go as smoothly. The tumor had compressed my brain stem and weakened my
ability to swallow. My doctor had to perform a tracheotomy to open up my airway
and insert a feeding tube into my navel cavity, so I could get
nutrition. I relied upon both for months.
As a mother,
I always knew how important healthy nutrition is to a child’s growth and
development. As a patient, I now know how vital good nutrition is for speedy healing
and recovery.
Food is
medicine. If it were not for tube feeding, my health outcome might have been
different. Tube feeding with real food blends and nutritional variety gave me
the nutrition to heal and the strength to take on speech and swallowing therapy,
and other rehabilitative work that helped me get back to normal.
See Jeannie’s experience
with tube feeding: Feeding Frenzy with Jim Gaffigan
Jeannie's new book When Life Gives You Pears is available now.
About Jeannie Gaffigan
Photos used with permission from Jeannie Gaffigan
Read more patient stories.