I completed surgery and radiation for tongue cancer. My feeding tube is ready to be removed as I am now able to swallow without too much difficulty. While in the hospital, a tech showed me an x ray of my stomach that showed a coil of wire and explained that this is how my tube was held in place. My question is, how is the tube removed and is there a lot of pain involved. The doctor that will perform this said that most of the time it's done in the office. Don't mean to sound like a sissy, but to get to this stage after surgery and radiation, I do not want to experience much more pain. Thanks out there for any feedback. T.

Hi Tom-
My mom had her's removed (only to have it reinstalled-it came undone internally and she is still dependent on it). She said that when they took it out it did not hurt but felt weird. Not sure if her's is the same as yours (coil?). But hopefully yours will be a breeze.

Glad that you are done with your treatment and eating well! Did you get the imrt? ANy chemo? My Mom finished at the end of Aug and she is nowhere close to being able to eat via mouth. So you are doing awesome! Congrats on completion of the treatment.
Tami

Tami:
Imrt yes Chemo no Surgery and Rad done in NH at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. Surgery not an option on Maui. T.

Dear Tom, apparently there are several kinds of feeding tubes and methods of implantation. To be honest, we don't really know how John's peg was implanted, but it was removed in the surgeon's office by his nurse-very quick yank- John says it felt like a body punch for about 10 seconds and then-no more discomfort- we were sent home with instructions on how to keep the wound clean until it healed and now he has a great time with our 18 mo old granddaughter counting "bellybuttons" She can't figure out why he has 2 and she only has 1 Amy

They are held in by a balloon or have a little wire in them then when pulled on, curls the part in your stomach up like a little pig tale keeping it from coming out. The balloon type is more obvious in its function.

I was not near my docs when it was time to 86 mine, so I cut the little wire, and it just slipped right out when the pig tale became straight. No pain, no nothing. A 2X2 taped over it for 3 days and it was closed and looked like another little belly button. I don't recommend that you do this; I only offer the story here to show you how simple the process is, and that it is nothing to be afraid of.

MIne was a yank by the doc. Felt like someone slapped me. Not really pain and very quick. All PEG removals arre basically quick from what I have read. Hurts a little, you do not need meds for the removal. I was worried at first, but after what we have all been through, the PEG removal was a piece-of-cake.

Hang in there.

Steve

I think my PEG tube had a bell cup or something that held it in place on the inside. I had asked my doctors prior to getting it pulled how much pain was involved. The chemo doc said it would feel like a punch.

Not that I'm advocating this, but I was SO uptight and nervous about getting the PEG tube pulled that I made sure to take a valium and a pain pill before the appointment. Normally, I get by just fine without any sort of pain or anxiety medication on a day to day basis, but when facing a procedure that might be painful, I try to make it as comfortable as possible.

I shut my eyes real tight and couldn't believe the PEG had been pulled. It was a real victory of sorts as I don't remember being uptight or in pain at all.

Being a person that dislikes having to take pills except in the matter of necessity (I have to talk myself into the daily dose of Iressa) I don't think I could even take the deep massage they give me at physical therapy without pain relief prior to going in. Therefore, I'm admitting to the fact that I'm a major chicken when it comes to pain.

Good luck with the removal. I felt like a whole new person when the tubing was removed. It was like being released from the tether!

Jen

I had myself convinced I could just pull mine out like Brian had, but mine was like Jen's apparently & the gastro guy said noway should I attempt it & that he would not pull it out either. They wanted to drug me & I refused anymore psychotropics. We compromised & they sprayed local in my throat & I choked down the scope, he grabbed the inside end of it, snipped the tube on the outside & pulled it out while I gagged just a little & that was it! I walked out & drove myself home! That was how mine went anyway. Everybody's experience is a little different & I suppose will differ from doc to doc & type of tube used. I remember being fairly nervous about it but it really was a piece of cake in the scheme of things. Erik

Golly! I wish MY experience had been as painless as others have described. I guess mine wasn't really so much PAIN, per se, as difficulty psychologically dealing with the fact the the doc just yanked the thing right out-the VERY thing that was on the TOP of my horror list for the last few weeks it was in. My stitches came undone at my belly and my greatest fear became that the tube would catch on a doorknob/cabinet, etc and pull out. When this actually happened in the doc's office (SURPRISE!!!!!) I was, to say the least, NOT ready for it. 10 minutes of shock and then I was ready to punch out a certain doc for not telling me about it in advance! :-)
Still not as bad as I had "built it up" to be. Hang in there!
gordon