Joni, I'm delighted you found someone closer. Yes, followup is a hassle when you're seeing a Dr. that's far away.

One thing I would definitely ask any doctor is how many times the doctor has done this surgery and how many times they have perforated the esophagus. The rate should be low (2-3%) but, speaking from experience, you also want to know what safeguards they have in palce when that does happen.

For example, it seems from what people have posted here that many surgical teams that do this are ENTs paired with gastrointestinal docs--which makes sense in some ways because the PEG tibe gets pulled and replaced when they have to cut through from both directions. But it is thoracic surgeons that have the training to deal with damage to the esphagus, if it happens during surgery (and make no mistake, if it does happen it is really serious and can have some life-threatening consequences is not treated right). I think there is also more of a risk of damage when th4e stricture is large.

They should at least be able to tell you that they have a thoracic surgeon available to step in quickly should the worst case happen.

Signed--the worst case