I completed 7 weeks of radiation and 3 chemo treatments 2 weeks ago for SQC at base of my tongue T4, and am curious how long to expect before I can get the Peg tube removed for feeding. Currently my throat is still sore and it is difficult to swallow, coughing up the sticky stuff and some blood. I have been able to set a few spoon fulls of soup down but even that is difficult. There is virtually no taste to food. Thanks for your comments.

I wanted that tube out as soon as possible after rad finished! I should have used it more, but I forced myself to keep eating orally throughout & had tube removed a month after treatment ended. Everyone is different. I had motivation to go swimming with my kids. The hole sealed up real fast & I was in the pool a week or so later! Try onions or oniony foods. Very flavorful! Just keep trying & taste will come around. At 3 months out I went to a Mariners game & ate a whole order of garlic fries with lots of ketchup! YUM, YUM! They created a force field to be reckoned with but damn they tasted good.

Terry-
Depends on how much weight you've lost and how much you are putting in by mouth. I had lost 45 pounds during teatment and they wanted me to gain some weight back before they would remove it. I was pretty motivated since I needed to get back to work and dealing with mid-day tube feedings in the office was more than I could handle! Had the tube out 1 1/2 months after I finished chemo. Taking it out was just a quick pull, no pain and healed up quickly. - Kris

Terry,
I kept my PEG for 10 months after treatment ended. I still needed it for nutrition and did not find it that big of a hassle. At work I hung the bag on a nail on the wall and kept working, and I used to play golf with it under my shirt.

My advice is to keep the PEG until you can get enough nutrition without it. There is no reason to rush.

Danny G.

Hey Terry,
My husband had the tube put in at the beginning of chemo/rad, began using it after 3 weeks of treatment. He had it in a total of about 5 months. He lost about 50 lbs. since diagnosis, so the PEG was a must. He went 6 weeks without talking at all and about 4 months with nutrition by PEG only.
God bless, Debbie

Terry:
Radiation does a lot of damage to healthy tissue and in such a delicate and sensitive area as the mouth and throat, it is devestating. Do not try to rush eating. Do you cough or have a choking sensation when you drink or try to swallow a thin liquid?
I was recently placed back on my PEG full time due to aspiration of liquids.
Darrell