[quote=ChristineB]KristenS... Yes, a feeding tube can definitely become dislodged. But it takes some doing, it wouldnt happen from washing dishes or vacuuming. I have had this happen while I was hospitalized for something else. I also remember maybe 2 or 3 others over the years going thru theirs being dislodged. My tube was placed a while ago so it was pretty well set and should NOT have an issue when I was laying in a hospital bed doing absolutely nothing but sleeping. Anyway, one day I had a brand new doc overseeing my care. She proceeded to press firmly around on my abdomen. I was half asleep so didnt realize what was going right away. I immediately told her "be careful, I have a feeding tube" and she stopped her abdomen exam. Well, just my luck... she had already pushed way too hard on the wrong spot and my feeding tube became dislodged and settled itself as embedded in my abdominal wall. You would definitely know if this happened to you. That was some of the very worst excruciating pain Ive ever gone thru.. especially when the student nurse was trying to force feed me thru the tube. Nothing would go in and everytime she pushed with all her might I screamed in agony due to it feeling like I was being stabbed by a knife. That one succeeded in creating a medical emergency where after telling every single medical professional who walked into my room for the next 3 days that I had something very seriously wrong. Not one person took my complaints seriously until I told the one attending doc .... " I wasnt just an average, uninformed patient, I had been part of the OCF forum for years and understood feeding tubes better than he did. I insist on getting a CT, Xray or MRI immediately or I will begin seeking legal representation for neglect." Well the test came back and showed the issues which could have turned into a life threatening problem if left another day or 2. I had surgery to remove the embedded tube and replace it with a different kind of feeding tube (J-G tube). For several weeks I had a special bag attached to the one port of my tube to drain any fluids from inside my abdomen. NOT fun at all!!!!! Of course thats just how things go for me, just remember everybody's different.. very, very few other patients will ever experience anything like that. [/quote]

Oh my gosh! That's terrifying!

I may never know what happened, or what was really wrong. There's an x-ray or something on file someplace, but I sure don't recall what it showed. i just know that the replacement made it better, and the pain was unbelievably bad. (And this from the person who didn't go to the ER with the broken shoulder because I didn't want to wait forever... waited till the next day to see a proper specialist. Of course, I also thought I'd merely dislocated it, sigh.) I do NOT tolerate pain well, but I can do stoic if I must and I know when not to do stoic ... the tube was beyond acceptable and into "Kill me now, please."

But it sure sounds like I was misinformed from the beginning about acceptable activity levels. That's a pity, because being more active in the early weeks would have helped keep my spirits up.