Dan - welcome to our family. You're one of us now.

I had something like 31 trips on the ride, as I called the radiation setup, after a neck dissection and chose not to get the tube. My RO had told me that the treatment would be tough but that I could do it if I applied myself. It helped that I hadn't needed chemo.

All of that said, if I had it to do over again I would have gone with the PEG. After a few weeks, even with swishing viscous lidocaine around my mouth for ten minutes prior, taking the several glasses of liquid nutrition by mouth at each feeding was incredibly painful. Of course each of us is different, each radiation plan is different, and you may have an experience that's much less taxing. My advice would be to discuss the pros and cons thoroughly with members of your medical team. The oncology nurses are amazing - the one I had was of enormous help with these maintenance issues. Couldn't have done it without her.

Perhaps others here will weigh in with their experiences. I turned down the PEG because I knew it was another surgery, and my neck dissection had a major complication that nearly killed me and was possibly related to the anesthetic. So you can understand I was reluctant to go under again so quickly. But again, your experience will be different.

Best of luck. You will definitely get through this, and we're all here to help you.