Any doctor that has his head on straight is not going to let the patient make the final decision about the PEG tube. At MDACC once you loose 10% of your body weight, you are going to get a PEG and that is not up for discussion. Nutrition and hydration are vital to recovery and if she is not getting them, her health could be further compromised and she could be open to serious consequences. People on this board have gone into physical shock and worse from lack of hydration and imbalances that it causes. Your body need nutrition to rebuild and to fight off all the opportunistic things that will want to take hold while in and also after the treatment. I didn't want the tube, and didn't like the whole idea, after getting it I realized it was no big deal to get it put in, and I certainly would have never made it through things without it. I ended up on it for almost 14 months.

Brian, stage 4 oral cancer survivor. OCF Founder and Director. The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between, the leader is a servant.