Great story. I have a different one to add. A YEAR after treatment I was finally ready to leave mine behind and move on with smoothies by mouth. I made an appointment with the hospital to have it taken out. I had one of the kind that didn't have a balloon at the end, but a wire that ran through it so once it was inserted, you could pull on the wire and it would "pig tail" up inside your stomach and stay in.

The day of the appointment, I sat patiently for 2 hours beyond my appointment time in the waiting room, and finally frustrated, I walked up to the nurse's station and asked if they had a pair of scissors, and the lady dug in the drawer and pulled a pair out. I reached down to my already unbuttoned shirt and cut the wire with her scissors, which of course straightened out the tube, easily slid the tube out of my stomach, put the napkin (previously around my coffee cup) over the opening (nothing was leaking out anyway) handed the scissors and tube to her with a thank you, and said, tell the doctor I no longer need to keep my appointment.

As anyone that has had one removed can tell you, the hole granulates back in in just a couple of days, and that was that. I will never forget the look on her face, priceless.