Talk with your husbands physician, nurses and/or dietitian during his next rad day. Tell them he needs a feeding pump ASAP! Its a piece of cake to get this from a medical supply company, but it does require a prescription.. Probably the same one that supplies his formula. Explain the push and gravity methods arent working very well and he needs help to get feedings while he is sleeping. If your husband has a case manager to help coordinate everything, maybe they can be of some help in getting a pump delivered to your home. A visiting nurse should come out when the pump arrives to teach you how to operate it. The pump is fairly simple, most common one is the kangaroo joey pump. Its small and can be put in a special backpack (usually provided) so he can do feedings while on the go or even while traveling back and forth to his treatments.

If you havent already checked with the American Cancer Society (ACS), I suggest calling them for some help. The ACS has a great resource to help patients get back and forth to their treatments. Even if you can get a volunteer driver one day a week, that would be a nice break for you. The drivers are all cancer patients or caregivers. Its a very good program, I volunteer and help drive patients once in a while. The ACS also has some financial aid programs to help cover prescriptions or transportation costs up to $300. They are available 24/7 so give them a call anytime you have a few minutes.

I suggest your husband taking small sips of water thru out the day. He does NOT want to end up with swallowing problems after everything he is going thru. believe it or not, the muscles used to swallow can quickly forget how to work together. Thats why its so important to take small sips every single day. Yes, the water could go thru the peg tube as well. When counting water, formula counts too. So if your husband has 6 cans a day that are 8oz each, thats already 48 oz of water I suggest picking up some of the tiny water bottles (I think they are 4 oz bottles) and try to get your husband to drink at least one, preferably 2 a day. I would still ask his doc to write the prescription for extra hydration and have him get fluids a few times a week. This will help him to feel so much better, right away. I know it always perked me up. I would be feeling horrible but after a bag or 2 of fluids I felt almost like my normal self.

I know you are concerned about rads becoming more difficult. Thats why getting his intake under control is so important. By taking in the minimums (or more) now, your husband should begin to feel a little better where rads wont be as hard on him. This should also slow or hopefully stop his weight loss which will make the treatments easier too.

Be careful with the fentanyl patch! Read and follow all directions exactly. Never fold, bend, cut, tear, or in any way rip the patch. No long hot showers or baths while wearing the patch as the heat could release too much medication. The patch takes about 24 hours to kick in but will overlap when changing it every 72 hours so he should have a nice level amount of pain relief. If he is still having occasional pain, ask for something to cover his "breakthru pain". Many pain meds come in liquid form, but you have to ask the doc to write the prescription for liquid. Its so much easier to use liquid than to deal with crushing a tablet then dissolving it in water to put thru the tube. Plus not all meds can be crushed, check with the pharmacist. Never crush any time release meds, even over the counter ones!

Constipation when the patient uses a feeding tube can be a little easier to get relief. Adding a little prune or pineapple juice to the formula can help. When my daughter was a baby, I used to add a little karo syrup to her bottles for constipation. Its found in the baking aisle of any grocery store.

I hope I havent overwhelmed you with too many tips. Wishing you all the very best with everything.