Very happy to have found this site, wish I would have found earlier! We are in the home stretch and feels like we are crawling to the finish line. Last chemo held this week due to low counts. Dealing with significant wgt loss and dehydration- planning on GT this fri as only intake has been sips of water and minimal sips of boost for last few weeks.gonna try again next week for final chemo--- hoping counts will be better by then. This has been a battle on so many levels!

Welcome to OCF! Glad you have found this site to help get you thru the rough days.

Nutrition and dehydration are huge factors in how well a patient does. if they are not taking in enough calories and water it can lead to serious problems. Talk to the doctor immediately about this. Ask for a prescription for hydration beginning tomorrow. This is not something to fool around with. I cant stress the importance enough! I was hospitalized for malnutrition and dehydration a couple times and it was no fun, I felt so bad I actually thought I was dying.

Since they are at the end of treatment, ask for a nasal feeding tube. This can be done tomorrow and get your husband back on the right path. Even with the tube, he still needs to continue to keep swallowing sips of water several times per day to keep those swallowing muscles in good shape.

There are some difficult days ahead. I know this isnt easy! But he is almost finished. Radiation continues to work even after the patient finishes their treatments. Unfortunately this means he will still feel pretty lousy for a few more weeks. After about 3 weeks he will slowly begin to have some better days. It all goes back to how well he can do with nutrition and hydration. Every single day his intake needs to be a minimum of 2500 calories and 48 oz of water. That is the least he should be getting, more is even better.

I know being a caregiver isnt easy so please be sure to take some time to be kind to yourself too.

Best wishes with everything.

Trust me, No way he would consider nasal gastric tube! It was only when he found himself defeated by what he was able to get in, that he is now accepting of GT. He has a healthy month I suspect before he will be able to begin taking anything of any substance ... It was only after RO told him it will also help him bounce back faster... He's had quite enough of this,and does not like anything that makes him look or feel like a patient! Thanks for your input, going to share your response with him as he doesn't listen to me when I try to remind him of intake needs...maybe he will listen to you.... : )

Welcome. The other aspect with the nasal tube vs a gastric feeding tube is taking the time out to do surgery, risks of surgery, for a peg tube, including missed treatments, risk of infection with low blood counts. There is a procedure where a radiologist can put in a peg under x-ray or CT guidance resulting in no time loss, no surgery, forgot the name of it, too early to think. Any missed radiation treatments will have to be made up by coming in a 6th day, tacked on the end, and some do twice a day treatments instead, but it's not advisable to miss any days, unless necessary. Good luck.

It is called Fluoroscopic guided Percutaneous Gastronomy or another may be Percutaneous Radiologic Gastroneous using push type gastronomy with CT and Fluoroscopy guidance.

http://radiology.rsna.org/content/210/3/651.full

Sorry to tell you this but the 2 to 3 weeks POST treatment are usually the worse for just about all of us and if he goes into those weeks mal nourished then if you think it's rough now, I will guarantee it will be MUCH worse. He MUST, and I say again MUST get at least 2500 cal and 48 ozs of water each and every day right through at least his first full year of recovery.

I had, kicking and screaming, the nasal tube put in my 2nd week of post Tx only after the doc told me I was hours away from dying if I didn't so tell him learn from other people's stubbornness and get it now so he won't take his body to brink of death for nothing. It's a simple 2 minute non surgical procedure. I had it for 2 weeks and it really did save my sorry butt. I even was allowed to pull it out myself at home. You can do just about anything with it including taking showers.

PM me if he wants to talk to someone that knows what he's been through and more important where he's headed. Of course that offer is for you to.

He's able to shower with all these options right?

If your husband is not able to take in at least 2500 calories and 48 oz of water every single day at this point then he will have no choice. His doctor needs to be kept in the loop that he is not getting enough nutrition and hydration. This is a very serious matter and can quickly become a huge problem. Nobody can manage for weeks with a limited intake, especially when that person is battling cancer and its treatments. There arent very many patients who actually desired to have a feeding tube, no matter what type gastric, nasal, or J/G. I know I sure hated the thought of having it. With several more bad weeks to go, I would be very surprised if the doctor didnt insist on him getting some type of feeding tube as long as the doc knows everything that is going on.

Please talk to the doc. and help get your husband back on track. Im sure he must feel absolutely terrible with taking in so little. Plus dont forget to ask about getting a prescription for hydration.

Im just trying to help your husband avoid what I went thru with being hospitalized for malnutrition and dehydration.

Yes you can shower with a feeding tube.

Good luck!

Thanks Christine... He is going in tomorrow 630 am for the nite for fdg tube and hydration.

Excellent!!!!

Colleen, tell him that the Nasal tube is really no big deal. I had one for a couple of weeks after I was gut-shot many years ago in Vietnam. It got to the point that I would remove it myself if I started to choke, and then reinsert it myself.

(mine was attached to a pump keeping my stomach empty, but the nose doesn't know the difference.)

The idea of a nasal tube is, for some reason, much more repugnant than the reality of it.

Unlike the idea of starving, which is much less repugnant than the reality...

Good luck, Bart