After a few days of phone calls back and forth with my doctors I am finally scheduled to get my feeding tube removed on Monday morning! It was put in by a radiologist so I have to go to the OR to have it removed. Not sure why, but whatever. I'm hoping it's just an in and out deal and they just pull it and let me get on with my day. I have to be there two hours before my appointment and I can't eat anything after midnight the night before (which is going to kill me! I usually wake up STARVING in the morning). Well, I'm going to be patiently waiting for Monday and hopefully the anticipation doesn't kill me in the mean time!

That is great. It's over in a flash and nothing but a sting. Doctor said he enjoyed this part as it meant you were on the "upswing" which is true.

Getting my peg pulled out made me feel like it was one more step to things returning to normal (or a new normal). It was an important part to my speedy recovery that I gained valuable nutrition and hydration, but I hated sleeping on my back all the time and dealing with it while taking a shower. Great job!

Congrats Steph. That was the first thing that helped me feel like I was winning !

Now over a year later, my second bellybutton is staring to fade.....


Kevin

How much of a sting it makes is dependent on the PEG itself -- My first PEG had a balloon on the end and stung when it was pulled out (No prohibition of eating before hand, BTW) -- My current PEG has no obstruction on the end and just slides out (it's been out twice for cleaning of blockage) and slides back in.

First PEG was put in by Gastro Doc, second PEG by Radiologist.

Thanks for all the comments!

Pete- I'm positive my peg has a balloon on the inside or else it would have fallen out a long time ago (my dogs like to jump, and it gets caught on everything). So I'm sure I'll be feeling the sting of removal but after all the other things I've had pulled out of my neck and done to my body in the past 4 months I'm sure this will be a breeze! I don't think I would be able to handle a peg tube that you can take out and put right back in, bleh. AND, I'm not sure what's up with the whole not being able to eat beforehand thing. It's going to be the death of me. It figures, I survive cancer and treatment, only to die of starvation waiting to have my feeding tube pulled.

Tom- like you I hate sleeping on my back, I sleep on my side for the most part, but I do occasionally like to sleep on my stomach. I'm looking forward to being able to not worry about rolling over on it!

Steph
Congrats on getting rid of the PEG tube!!!!

Congratulations Stephanie!! What a milestone! I am so happy for you.

- Margaret

I believe it was in Haley's blog that she wrote they just cut her tube, pushed the ball into her stomach and let nature take care of it.

I like that idea. Anyone else heard of this option? Or is this only a UK procedure?

My MO said today getting rid of my peg was next on the agenda and I would rather poop it than pull it

the ballon is inflated with a small amount of saline,which they remove before taking the peg out.In the uk i think its a bit like the elastoplast pull.grit your teeth and out she comes.

One reason my balloon-less PEG doesn't fall out is that it is 17" long and it has a couple of tight curves in it, so it would take a long pull with some effort.

I talked to a lady today for the registration stuff at the hospital (since I'm going through the OR to have my peg removed) and they are making a big deal out of this. I kind of laughed because she mentioned me having an IV for it in case they have to give me a sedative and she was asking me about any reactions to anesthesia that I may have had. Finally I just stopped her and told her they didn't put me under when they put it in, so I seriously doubt they are going to put me under when they take it out. So, I'm just ready to get this thing out!! And Pete I would be freaking out if I had a peg that I potentially could take out and put back in no matter how long it was. Although I was tempted the other day to just call up the doctor and ask him to walk me through pulling out my own peg so I didn't have to go in to the hospital!!

You don't want to be taking out your own PEG if there's an "anchor" on it, unless you have removed a tooth with the string and door method.

What my Doc did with the "anchored" PEG was just give it a good yank while I was on a table with nurse and dressings standing by. It was a short sharp pain, with some minor bleeding, and then it was over.

Peace out Peg Tube!

Haha, it's GONE! And the doctor even said I could have taken it out on my own if I wanted to, apparently a lot of people do...HA! It didn't hurt at all and it didn't bleed. I checked in at the admissions place, they brought me back to a room and took my vitals and told me to get in the gown, I argued for a second with the nurse wondering why I had to wear a gown for a 2 second procedure but I did it anyway. Then they came to take me back and I was informed that I did not need to go through all that stuff because it's an outpatient procedure (I could have told them that, and had tried a few times, but no one would believe me). I put my clothes back on and then they brought me back out to the waiting room but didn't tell the doctor that was removing the tube that they had moved me so he was looking all over the place for me. Finally I recognized him when he walked by and I asked him if he was looking for me, and he was. He brought me back, sat me on a table deflated the balloon, pulled the tube, and put a bandage over it and sent me on my way. I told him about how they had mentioned wanting to do an IV in case they had to do anesthesia and he laughed. I wanted to ask him if I would have been able to eat breakfast this morning before the procedure but I figured it was better to not know, I'm pretty sure I could have (I was starving by the time we got out of there!).

The good news is that the tube is out!!!

Oh what a feeling...freedom from the dangling appendage...congrats and happy eating.

Deb

Fantastic!!!

So. What'd you have for breakfast??

Margaret -

We picked up Whataburger (burger and fries...it's the only fast food I'll eat!) on our way home, I was starving and I got out of there at like 10:00 am and nothing is serving lunch at that time! We are celebrating tonight by going out to Cheesecake Bistro with a bunch of friends!

Deb-

Thanks so much! It's so nice not having that thing taped to my stomach anymore! I haven't not had tape on some part of my body since May 19th, so I'm looking forward to getting this bandage off soon!

Steph:

What a great feeling you must have being rid of that awful thing. It serves a much needed purpose but it sure is a pain in the but sometimes.

Glad you are healing up so quickly. Congrats

Sweet

That is a great feeling. Got mine out 2 weeks ago and actually went swimming last weekend for the first time all summer. Enjoy your freedom.

Thanks for all the replies and encouragement! It seems my excitement of having the tube out has been slightly overshadowed yesterday and today because I'm dealing with nausea for some reason. It's not bad, just annoying more than anything. Yesterday morning I woke up very excited to take the bandage off my peg tube site so I could take a picture of the hole but it was ALREADY CLOSED! In less than 24 hours! I was so disappointed! Oh well, hopefully I'll get a handle on this nausea and I can truly enjoy being tube-less!

Har! I wish my tracheotomy hole had sealed up that fast! Everyone said it would, and my first PEG hole did, but this time it held on forever and I had to keep cleaning it (and covering it with finger to talk!).

Urk. That stinks, Stephanie. I'm dealing with a vaguely upset stomach as well, when I eat by mouth. Last night I drank about half of a Carnation VHC, felt nauseous, and put the rest down the PEG with no problem. This doesn't make any sense, right?? Its very frustrating. But hang in there, kid! I'm sure this too shall pass.

-Margaret

Oh, that's interesting. I often wondered how that worked inside the body. Thanks. Claudia

Margaret, I'm having the reverse problem -- I get uncomfortable if with the PEG feeding, esp if I do it too fast (start to sweat and stomach aches) but I can drink stuf with no ill effects (I sure wish it tasted better!).

Pete,

That stinks too! You've been having trouble with this all along, right? And I hear you about the taste - most food has no flavor at all or it tastes awful. I have been trying to get more food down, but its still a struggle, and I really want to get rid of this tube.

This "one day at a time" stuff is hard sometimes.

Actually, today I drank two cans of Nutren 2.0 back-to-back (pushing it, I know...) and almost immediately got the runs and tummy ache, but no sweats. I can usually drink one down fairly rapidly with no ill effects.

For me it isn't the PEG tube itself so much as losing the tube is a symbol of progress.