Danny,
My husband never got a PEG tube. By the time we realized it probably would have been a good idea the doctors basically said it was too late. All the way through treatments he was able to eat, but very very painfully. He was given pain meds. and a mouthwash they called "Miracle Mouthwash" It was a prescription and had something to numb the mouth. He swished it around the mouth about 1/2 hour before eating. His treatments ended Aug 28 and only within the last week have we seen a positive sign of weight gain -- about 2 months after treatments. He's been living on milkshakes (fortified with some muscle and weight gaining powder you can find in healthfood stores), tons of those really tiny pastas called Pastina, pureed chicken with gravy, tapioca pudding, scrambled eggs and even cheesecake. There is also a product from Nestles called Additions that we add to his eggs and warm food. It is a favorless calorie enhancer we got from the hospital. For product information, you can call 1-800-422-2752 or go to www.nestleclinicalnutrition.com. Basically we have been trying to pack on the calories any which way we can, from extra butter to powdered supplements. Thankfully we can see the end of the tunnel, but we really feel your pain. It has not been easy.

Judy,
If you are contemplating chemo and radiation, my husband had carboplatin, which I believe is a milder form of another type of chemo. It was explained to us that this helps to boost the effects of the radiation, almost like shining a flashlight on the bad cells so the radiation can attack it better. It was given once a week. He also had amiphostine to help with the salivary glands. That was given every day 1/2 hour before the radiation. It is suppose to help "save" the salivary glands from being completely destroyed. He was able to tolerate both fairly well. Truthfully it is difficult to tell how much it helped, but his mouth is not critically dry. If you are not going to do surgery, then I would assume the radiation/chemo may be longer in duration than my husbands. Remeber that radiation is cummulative. You don't start to feel the effects until at least 2 weeks after the actual treatment. By the 6th week it really begins to pack a whallop. I would very seriously consider a PEG tube in this case. Talk to your doctors.

Best of luck to you. BC