Tonya,

First off, welcome to OCF and sorry to hear about your mother-in-law.

Like many, I had radiation and did not have a peg tube. My cancer was on my right lateral (side) of my tongue and they angled my radiation to spare most of my throat. A peg tube was not even suggested to me because my doctors felt I would not need one, and I did not. I was able to eat and drink (soft foods/liquid diet) throughout treatment and recovery. Not to say it was easy, but doable. I lost weight, but not an unreasonable amount.

The effects of radiation are the worst towards the end of treatment and in the weeks after treatments ends. Where was your MIL�s cancer? If her whole throat is getting hit with radiation, it could be more difficult to eat and swallow in the weeks ahead. The same goes with the mouth � my tongue became very swollen and I had numerous mouth sores that made eating/drinking extremely difficult and painful.

I cannot answer many questions about the peg tube, but having it leak certainly does not sound normal to me. This should definitely be addressed with her doctor. Does someone go with her to her doctor�s appointments?

Getting the proper nutrition is key to the healing process. By the way, there are many discussions on the forum about the peg tube � fondly called the �peg wars�. For some it is absolutely essential for survival, and others have been lucky to get by without one. There is a search feature that allows you to search the forum � you will find many discussions on this topic.

I wish your mother-in-law the best. Feel free to ask any questions and please let us know how she is doing.