I have a consultation appt tomorrow to have a PEG placed. I can't take anything in by mouth. This is actually my idea, along with the knowledge I have gleened from this website. My mouth must know when I am about to try to drink a shake or eat something. Because as soon as I do, it starts hurting. I have pink magic, Caphosol. I have tried drinking/eating after pain meds have had time to get on board.

I was told by my RO before we started that I was to have 27 treatments. He would then do a few boosts to finish the total rad treatment. Anyone heard of or had this done?
Thanks,
Kenny

My husband had 18 days of one treatment per day and 12 days of two treatments per day. Ask the techs doing your radiation what the plan is (unless you can corner the doc). Our techs had the schedule of when and how much.

Good luck

Kenny,

Where are you being treated?

Usually the max radiation they give us the first go round is appx 70 gy's with about an avg of 2 gy's per session so we end up getting 35 Tx's. I'm not a rad expert by any means and I know there are several different ways RO's play around with the rad sessions, like doubling up on Fridays but their overall goal is to kill the cancer and (just barely) spare the patient. With that said I would ask your RO why just 18 sessions.

Baptist Cancer Center in San Antonio. Cheryl's husband did 18 followed by 12.

Gonna get some sleep. Actually looking forward to having the PEG placed. TY for your thoughts and experiences David and Cheryl

Kenny, best of luck with the PEG placement tomorrow. If you need any pointers, let me know. I struggled with mine until I found the right formula, consistency and speed of the overnight feeding machine.

I saw my RO yesterday and he told me that he is going to "boost" and "target" the last 8 treatments! Right now he is shooting me from like 15 different positions during the last 8 he is going to specifically target my tongue where I had the surgery and my left neck where I also had the lymph node removed.

Yep Trotti did the same with me. I remember the machine began with 7 different stops and my last week it only stoped at 3 spots.

Oooh Jim
that sure does seem to burn more .Rob hated it so please take extra care of your skin and mouth.

love liz

PEG insertion was successful. They told me to wait 4 hours and I was good to go. Somehow I got a case of Jevity 1.5 out of them. It seemed hard to get an 8oz can in, felt full. I don't think it was any different than trying to guzzle a can of Ensure Plus. The part I do not miss is my mouth killing me during/after I guzzled my Ensure.
Now, I have heard you all talk about the Carnation. I intentionally held off ordering to see if I was going to get the PEG placed. If I can keep getting Jevity free I will stay w/ Jevity.

Jevity 1.5 355 cals w/ high fiber
Ensure plus 350 cals

Is it better to just do bolus feedings w/ a 60ml syringe or ask for a pump? I feel better knowing I will be able to get adequate nutrition.


After 27 treatments I will have a total of 54gy. Currently, the IMRT is stopping at 6 locations. I guess the boosts will bring me up to the totals I have seen on here.

I was talking with one of the RO's in the group at the center I go to. She said that the radiation has effected me a little harder because I have fair skin and light color eyes. Why I share that I don't know. Maybe, it will mean something to someone down the road.

I feel like crap but am looking forward to the PEG helping me along the way.

Kenny

Congrats Kenny, use it often and fatten up. lol

Fair skin and light eyes means you will get a much nastier burn than someone like me that gets a beautiful tan each summer. That being said. the XRT still gave me a nasty burn at the end. I used Biafine after each XRT treatment the last week of treatment and a few weeks after and it cleared it right up. Too bad they didn't give it to me sooner, because it is supposed to help prevent the burn. Ask about it.

Take care,
Eileen

Rob had red hair,blue eyes and white skin,and he burnt from the first day unfortunately.I used gallons of aqeous cream on his neck but he still blistered.Our radiologist said it was because of his colouring .When he had the targeted boost it burnt him even more.There is not much you can do exxcept take good care of your skin and get antibiotics if the burns get infected.

good luck
liz

I never burn, just tan, so like Eileen said I had an easy time of my rad in that dept. I did get red the last week but I just put some cream on it and all was good.

I dunno, Eileen. I have fair skin & blue eyes and only had one small blister after treatment ended. My sister, also pale, had horrid burns during her radiation for breast cancer. My docs had assured me that skin color is not necessarily a good indicator of how you'll do with radiation.

During my radiation treatment, I just poured generic Ensure down an empty syringe and let gravity do the work.

Now that I am on a PEG full-time, I find the pump to be a very good way to go because I can set it up to work while I am doing other things like reading, watching DVDs, sleeping, etc. I can vary the rate of feed drastically. If needed, I can easily water down the food.

BTW, I am using Nutren 2.0 which is 500 cal/can, so I only need to consume four cans to get 2,000 cal/day.

Does anyone check for residual gastric contents before next feedings with the PEG? If so how much residual is to much to have and still take in nutrition?

Not dead sure about this, but it seems to me that there are always some gastric contents, waiting for the next food intake.

I have routinely put four cans in a row through my pump.