How long should one be eating totally by mouth before the doc will "allow" the PEG to be removed? Tim had a complete strictuure and had 2 dilations 1 was 3 weeks ago the other last week (8 weeks out of treatment), his swallowing has vastly improved. He's eating yogurt, tomato soup, cream of wheat and the past few days has eaten egg salad, ham salad and scrambled eggs. He's been doing the exercises the speech pathologist gave him and it really works! He also had his first CT scan 2 weeks ago, which came back clear.
Sheila

Sheila,I think you need twin scales to weigh the answers to your question. John [with the peg in] was slowly gaining back some weight with a combo of peg tube feeding and eating meals like you described above. He wanted the peg out, got it out and since then is only maintaining his current weight {which is still too low}because he can not eat a real variety of calorie packed foods. I wish he had waited a while longer to remove the peg. P.S. John's rad tx ended July 8th and his mouth is causing him more problems now than it did 2 weeks ago. Amy

Sheila,

I was told to be able to eat for at least 2 weeks on my own. Before tube should be removed..

I still have my tube and I finished treatment the 20th of Jan. I am just now being able to eat a little this & little that.

I am sure that Tim is doing better now. I see you posted in Nov.

Hello Shelia,
I had my peg tube removed about six weeks after my radiation ended and about two weeks after my neck dissection. I did wait until I was eating most things for about two weeks, I just forced my self to eat even if things did not taste to well, I would just keep going back to them. I had finished all of the treatment that I was going to have (rad, Chemo, Surgery) and I was anxious to get that damn peg tube out so that I could really begin my recovery, I am now eating everything, although there have been some taste adjustments to make, but it is better everyday. I do not know how long the average is for using a PEG but for me it was almost exactly three months.I intially lost 35-40 Lbs. and have gained about 20 or so back, that is where I hope to stay (180 looks much better than 205). I think the determining factor is how comfortable is your husband with eating, swallowing etc. These things should be coming back little by little, and tell him not to get discouraged, if something does not work for him(food) it might in just a few weeks. Hang in there my friends it does get better, it sometimes just seems so damn slow.
Always Lenny