Hireup’s news and features editor, Melanie Dimmitt, has created a second edition of her free, magazine-style resource for families and people who tube-feed.
So, it’s been a year. And somehow, a magazine for tube-feeders has made enough of a splash to get itself a second issue. Here she is, The Blend Issue Two, designed to uplift, inform and inspire people and families who, like mine, are adjusting to a different - but no less worthy - way to thrive.
Congratulations are in order, as we’ve seen huge progress on the tube-feeding front.
Back in 2021, a bunch of experts put their heads together and created an evidence-based guide to blended feeds - that's real food, blended thin enough to get through a feeding tube - for clinicians in Australia and New Zealand. Known as the ‘consensus statement’, that guide has really caught on.
As a result, the medical sector’s attitude toward this diet is shifting from ‘nope, no can do’ to ‘how can we support you?’. Never before have tube-feeders had so much choice over what sustains them, but as the Covid pandemic persists, they’ve also faced enormous challenges.
Image: Lincoln and his family feature in The Blend Issue Two
Our community has been rocked by worldwide product shortages. We’ve experienced major delivery delays, with certain formulas and equipment all but impossible to get a hold of. It’s been heartening to see social media networks band together during this time, sending precious supplies to people and families in need.
Despite this ongoing issue, the global enteral feeding market is booming and set to reach close to $US10 billion by the end of the decade. And while we’re in the realm of extremely large numbers, there are more than a billion TikTok videos attached to the hashtag #feedingtube.
Image: Megan Fisher, 'The Chronic Makeup Artist', features in The Blend Issue Two
In my own small patch of this space I’ve made a life-changing discovery. Reusable syringes! The ones with silicone o-rings are immeasurably better than your stock-standard, single-use variety for blended feeds. Not to mention less guilt-inducing on the wastage front.
In other news, under the careful supervision of nurses at our local hospital, I changed my now six-year-old son Arlo’s MIC-KEY G-tube button all by myself. Yep, I did it. And implore other tubie parents to give it a go.
Like many humans on this planet, our family all got Covid in the year just gone. Arlo sailed through it more smoothly than his medically boring family members - in no small part due, I’m sure, to his G-tube keeping aspiration off the menu. I join many other people on the pages to come in saying, thank frick for that tube.
Image: Loretta Harmes, 'The Nil By Mouth Foodie', is The Blend Issue Two cover star
It’s been an absolute treat to gather stories for this issue of The Blend. We’ve gone more global this time, so prepare to soak in wisdom from tube-feeding people, families and professionals the world over.
Read compelling words from our cover star, The Nil By Mouth Foodie, and an extraordinary tale from The Chronic Makeup Artist. Go adventuring with a tubie family caravanning around Australia. Be moved by a heart-wrenching essay from the host of The Rare Life podcast, buoyed by parents who are shouting their child's worth, and inspired by a tube-feeding bodybuilder who’d outmuscle Arnie.
If you take just one message from this magazine, let it be that you are not alone. We are a big, creative and caring community, celebrating this way of eating and living full, beautiful lives.
Read The Blend magazine Issues One and Two here.
Melanie Dimmitt
Melanie Dimmitt is a freelance journalist, author and broadcaster. Since her debut book, Special, was published by Ventura Press in 2019, Melanie has written, spoken, podcasted and advocated far and wide for disability families. Creator and host of the award-winning NDIS Know-how and Tubie Talks podcasts, Melanie also publishes an annual magazine, The Blend, for the tube-feeding community.