It's an emotional subject for many. It was for me. I initially wanted one as a precaution but my team told me otherwise. I made it through treatment without one but only by a couple of hours as I was in surgery getting one two hours after I rang the bell.

I lost over 10lbs the last week of treatment (35lbs during treatment and a total of 60lbs from diagnosis/surgeries/treatment) and was unable to eat and barely able to drink. For the 1st 3 weeks post treatment I took 99% of my nutrition and hydration through the tube. I'm down to about 80% now and eating a solid food meal 1-2 times a day and hydrating totally by mouth now. I started eating solid foods over the Memorial Day weekend.

As much as I didn't want it, I'm glad I have it. The procedure was easy and other than some soreness for a couple of days, painless too. It went in on a Wednesday afternoon and I was using it Friday morning.

"T"