Whether or not you absolutely need the PEG or not depends on how adversely your swallowing ability is affected by radiation.

As someone who was adversely effected, and has had even more swallowing problems with aftereffects of radaition on swallowing, I can say that it is frustrating enough to lose that ability in treatment, even more frustrating to not be able to easily regain that ability, and probably more frustrating still (I'm not at this point yet) to realize you will need a PEG for the rest of your life. Yet we have people in this forum who are in all of those spots.

I am happy for anyone who finds they can get through radiation without a PEG, but if there is any admiration related to this, it is for those folks on this board, like Tom Jackson, who are pretty much permanently dysphagic after their treatment, with all the hassle and social alienation that goes along with that (something that I have learned too much about in year since my treatment ended and I didn't regain my ability to swallow), and never complain about it but spend a lot of time supporting other folks here who are going through dysphagia for some temporary period as a result of treatment.

Nelie