My doctor wants to put in a feeding tube before treatment starts. He says it is easier to do it now, than when I'm feeling awful.

Thoughts?

Yes- Its a nice backup when you lose your apetite and your taste. which is only temporary....but trust me eatig is a chore and being properly nourished is important in not having as bad of side effects... I know it seems very unpleasant but its honestly a lifesaver. You want to have the strength to get through the treatments so your body can beat this thing and erradicate it from your systom..

Compat pump pr the joey pump are things I wish i had - I had some troubles getting enough formula in


also someone on the site also just told me about

http://www.thepegbelt.com/ which makes teh pegtube more comfortable

WOW I wish i had known about that!

. I am a very petite woman and the pulling of the peg tube drove me crazy and made it hard to excercise. I dunno check into these things- sounds like they will make your life easier ! K

We have had this discussion many times on this site and it gets really heated at times but there are those that did not get the Peg, me included, and I wouldn't get it if I had to do it over again.

The most important thing is to get the recommended daily hydration and "food", usually in liquid form, during and post Tx. That's not as easy as it may sound when your mouth and throat are burnt and sore so some doctors suggest and some require a Peg. It is also important to keep swallowing throughout Tx so even if you get the Peg, you need to only use it as a last resource.

There is one thing that I would do differently and that is I would get a port because there were many times that I wished I had one when they were trying to find my veins.

Andrew,
getting the tube now is a lot easier than later when your throat is raw from radiation.
To PEG or not to PEG has been discussed heatedly here in the past, just check for it. I had one and was lucky that I did not have to use it much but even in retrospect I would get one again.

As far as the peg belt is concerned... I could not get a picture of it. Clearly taping the thing down is a pain and not a long term solution. However before you go and shell out $$$ consider this: an elastic bandage does wonders and if you cover the tube totally, prevents snagging.

M

Another vote for the Peg..Bill was so happy he made the decision to get his before treatment started. We made good use of it and then, starting the third week after treatment ended, he began eating by mouth and never looked back. As you can see in my signature, PEG was removed in January.

A simple 4-6 inch wide ace bandage with a velcro closure makes life with a PEG tube so much better. Don't get the self stick type...too rubbery and they don't wash well. The velcro kind washed nicely and having two or three to change keeps things clean and healthy. When needing to feed, just pull the tube out from under the bandage, then tuck back in when finished. Worked like a charm.

Deb

Hi Andrew

My vote is for it.

I do not think I could have done as well as I did without it. All of the doctors that my wife works for said it was a good idea, and I'm a believer.

Kevin

Andrew:
I am the one who posted about the Peg Belt with Kate who responded to you earlier.
A couple things:

I know this situation stinks as my father in law, wife, and I have been living with this for about 11 months now. He has esophageal and gastric cancer. I did not directly experience the effects but I saw my father in law go through things so I experienced them very closely, second-hand.
His doctor basically told him the same thing as you. I know that after he started to get his treatments he needed the tube to keep his nutrition because it either hurt him to eat or he could not keep food down. I know people probably have different reactions to the chemo and radiation so please get more comments from folks on this site.
In the event you decide to go ahead with the feeding tube, the device my father in law designed may assist you as it did him with daily activities.
As DavidCPA pointed out our website is still in the process of getting pictures and being updated for the belt.
My father in law has since had the tube removed. I do feel his belt helped him stay active during the time that he had the tube in so if you are contemplating having the tube inserted and you plan on remaining active I would recommend the belt as an alternative again, from my father in law's experience.

Sorry so long winded......I wish you the best.

Kate, I couldn't get the video of the PEG belt to play but thank you for the link. I also couldn't find a price for it. I agree that one of those simple elastic bandages--the kind you use to bind a sprained ankle and a simple gauze pad under it next to the site--are really all that is needed. I have had my tube for a couple of years now and exercise quite a bit without problems--although I'm not doing things that require sudden etyensive stretching of my upper torso (things like tennis for example), which I could see might cause more problems.

Andrew, I am always hesitant to weight in with someone new in these discussions because I am someone with serious and probably permanent swallwoing problems caused by radiation--NOT caused by having a g tube--but my swallowing problems have been mistakenly interpreted by others as though they were due to having a tube. I've had a g tube for a while as a result and so I can be helpful about issues to do with the care of a g tube but if you get a g tube during treatment it doesn't mean you are any more likely to have permanent swallwoing problems. That is caused by radaition, your reaction to radiation, and other things such as whether you've also had tongue surgery beforehand.

I will say though that the surgery to place a g tube involves sticking an endoscope all the way down your esophagus into your stomach. Having that surgery when your esophagus is fine and unradiated is not a big deal (you're anesthetized when they stick the endoscope down and there's not much soreness after). However, if you wait to have it until you can't swallow because your throat is already a raw, blistered mess from the radiation, obviously sticking an endoscope down there is going to feel really bad for a while after. We have had posters here who thought they could make it through treatment without the tube and some, like David, were able to actually do so. But many were not and they really suffered getting a g tube mid-treatment when, to be honest, you are already suffering enough.

The thing to do is get the tube and don't use it unless you absolutely have to. There is no reason to use it after you get it if you don't need it (you just have to keep it flushed daily which takes no time at all) but you'll have it if you need it and won't fall behind the curve ibn terms of getting nutrition.

Nelie

My doctor never really asked me if I wanted a peg tube or not. He said he would be putting it in pre-treatment. Sounded like standard operating procedure for him. I am thankful I did have it. After the 2nd round of chemo at the end of week 5 I couldn't swallow anything, and I had no appetite at all. With the peg I was able to maintain a 3,000 calorie a day diet with the carnation instant breakfast vhc drinks. I believe with the right nutrition I was able to heal better. Over this past weekend, at 9 months post treatment, I ran my first 5K (3.1 miles) race, which was also my first race after treatment.