[quote=CWB]Rich,

I was told I would more than likely get a feed tube put in my side to help when I got to the point where I couldn't eat. Do you have one or plan to get one? I know two individuals in my home town with our same cancer that I have been talking to and they highly recommended the feed tube. They actually kept it for months afterwards to help with recovery. I was just curious because I don't see anyone talking about it and I thought it was routine.

Thanks,
Curt [/quote]

Hey Curt,

Currently I do not have a feeding tube and unless things take a bad turn in the next few weeks I don't plan on getting one. I can see on the one hand how it can help a lot of people who just can't get beyond either the bad taste of food, or lack of taste, or people who have really bad throat pain. The bad taste of food for me has subsided a lot. Mostly I just get very muted flavor but still some flavor on most things and almost normal flavor on others so I can generally get most things down.

Also, I have yet to experience much more than a slight burning when I take the first few swallows sometimes that quickly subsides. I think forcing myself to eat/drink all through treatment has helped mitigate the pain itself so far. That being said anything can change in the next few weeks.

I'll throw this out there without any intent on offending anyone. From what I've read of some people's experiences the PEG can become a crutch that prevents people from taking in nutrition by swallowing and elongates the time to removal. Nothing at all against anyone who uses it to supplement but you have to try and get as much as possible down the hatch so you can get back to normal as soon as possible. This is just my opinion. YMMV.

-Rich