Hi, my husband had PEG tube. We honestly had no issues with getting it and did not realize that it is an emotional issue for people until later. It was a lifesaver and caused no problems at all. He did not need to use it until about 3 weeks into treatment. The kids (8 & 4 at the time) thought it was cool. He let them pour water down it and it would "burp" which they thought was so funny. Then, 3 weeks into treatment he was hit like a train with pain and he would have starved to death without that thing. He was able to get it out about 6 weeks after treatment. Now, it looks like he has two belly buttons which the kids also think is funny!

As far as working, my husband is also self employed so I definitely relate to the needing to work aspect of things. He functioned at 100% and worked no problems until 3 weeks into treatment. The side effects and pain came on all at once. It got pretty bad and there was no working possible. He was back to working fairly soon after treatment stopped.

Speech was an issue once again about 3 weeks into it. He could not really talk and did not have much he wanted to talk about.

This is going to be a challenging time but you will get through it. It is actually one of those things where I did not realize how challenging it was until now when I think back on it.