Well, I sort of know them. You can meet them too, probably without having to leave home.

They are people situated all over the world who are just like you ... wanting to supplement their health care professionals' advice and expertise with tube feeding information from other families who have "been there" before. And of course it's the Internet which facilitates this free and frank exhange of information and support. Just imagine, sending a brief e-mail with your question and having 500 people read it within the next 24 hours - someone is bound to be able to assist ...

The Gtube Mailing List ( http://members.iinet.net.au/~scarffam/serve/cache/120.html ) was established in 1996 because I wanted to help others through the situation I encountered in the early 90's - not many children in Western Australia had G-tubes and my wife and I were so busy looking after our special needs child that we had neither the time nor the opportunity to visit an emerging local support group.

All sorts of tube feeding methods and topics are discussed on Gtube. We have people using j-tubes, ng-tubes, gj-tubes and, of course, g-tubes. Some of the issues discussed include tube cleaning, oral motor skills, hunger, transition to oral feeding, equipment types and use, dietary considerations, feeding rates, motility, stoma care, formula leakage/spills, weight gain/loss and information about tube support services/insurance plans in your area of the world. Now, if you already care for someone who is tube fed and you have not encountered any of these issues, the rest of us would certainly like to know how you have avoided them!

If you are on the Internet, come and join us. Point your browser to http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/CGI/wa.exe?SUBED1=gtube&A=1 and follow the instructions to subscribe.

You can also subscribe by just using e-mail. Address your message to listserv@maelstrom.stjohns.edu and type the words

subscribe gtube Yourfirstname Yourlastname

in the body of the message (not the subject line). Send it off and you will receive an automatic e-mail response within a few minutes, including instructions on what to do and how to interact with us.

So, come and join a group of people who face the same tube feeding issues that you do, day in, day out. People who seamlessly combine a rare mixture of determination, panache, reflection, sorrow, celebration and mutual support.

Virtually Yours ...

Ward Scarff
Perth, Western Australia
Gtube Listowner
scarffam@iinet.net.au