Nathan,

There are some of us that went thru the Tx w/o the PEG so it is doable but that decision is best left between you and your docs. IMO it would be better to do w/o the PEG as long as you can make it w/o loosing to much weight but again talk it through with your docs. The key is getting all the calories and hydration that they want you to get every day. sounds simple enough but that can get tough as you get to the last couple of weeks of the rad especially if you do get the Cisplatin and especially so if you are given the 3 dose method. Even if you do get the PEG you must continue to swallow every day. My docs didn't want me to get the PEG but he worried that I didn't have any weight to spare loosing. I proved him wrong as I lost 30 pounds. lol

If you are like the majority of us you won't start to have a bad reaction until about your 4th week and it will continue to worsen until about 3 weeks post Tx so really you "only" have to deal with the worse crap for about 7 weeks.

Do be careful with the 3 dose regimen of Cis as it can cause permanent hearing loss (did for me). I would ask your docs about the 6 weekly bags of Cis as most that got it that way reported less adverse side effects than those of us that got the standard 3 bag approach. If they are on the bubble about chemo at all, maybe that would be an acceptable alternative.