Tami, Sorry to hear about your mom. At the Cancer Center where my husband is being treated, they wanted the feeding tube put in prior to radiation treatment. The reasoning was that most patients did need to use it eventually and they didn't want to interrupt the treatments to put in the feeding tube. It is a surgical procedure and done under anesthesia. My husband was in and out within 6 hours, but he had pain in his stomach area for 2-3 days after. Also, the patient needs to be able to get adequate nutrition and calories. My husband never needed to use his to eat but he did use it to take in extra water since he had trouble drinking much water eventually. I understand this is unusual and most people do use it in place of eating. My husband didn't have chemo. However, I know someone through work that was going through treatment at the same time - IMRT and chemo, after surgery - and she had a truly miserable time of it. She ended up being hospitalized for almost 6 weeks, having recurring fevers and various problems. They didn't give her the peg in advance and had to rush her in to install it just a week into the radiation. She had considerable nausea and couldn't handle getting nutrition through the tube for a few weeks - they did it intraveneously. She made it through and is 10 weeks out from radiation now. People seem to react to the treatments very differently.
Connie