Nathan

As a grizzled veteran of the "PEG Wars", I've had quite contentious battles with posters here. so much so that Brian had to close down some of the threads. Even then, some posters went to Private Messages to continue, but that did not work out so well for them as I was free to be more caustic.
What I finally realized is that almost every poster's views on this merely mimic the opinions of their medical team. My RO is quite adamant that getting a PEG tube puts patients at risk of impaired swallowing. I've posted some of his comments before as well as other medical "experts" who also believe that a PEG tube is less than optional and should be a last resort.
With the exception of DavidCPA. the party line on OCF is that not getting a PEG tube is foolish or stubborn or less than realistic. I overreacted at first to that by countering that of course I understood those who were not heroic nor strong enought to get by without a PEG tube which then triggered equally personal attacks.
The truth is that getting a PEG tube is a very personal decision that most of us relied upon our medical team to advise us on and then took that advice.
I personally saw the PEG as losing control and being "sick" so to me the psychological benefits of not having a PEG made the increased difficulty worthwhile. Of course my RO's strong backing fortified my resolve.
Ironically, while I could swallow throughout the entire first TX and recovered full eating and swallowing incredibly fast, the surgery & second round of radiation when my cancer came back has left me totally dependent on a G-tube.
It's mostly males who go without a PEG tube from my informal count of posters and I really ignited a firestorm here when I talked about awarding myself a medal for not getting a PEG.
But now that I realized that its just another split in the medical community, I'm no longer interested in fighting the doctor's wars. I've yet to read about a poster who did the opposite of what their medical team advised. Yes, many males did like I did and gamed the system to avoid automatic weight triggers but pretty much everyone echoes what their doctors say on PEGs. For what its worth, I would do it without a PEG again. Just me
Charm