The only place I have swum since I had my PEG is a dammed up mountain brook pool at my parent's house in Vermont where the water is so clean I also wouldnt' mind drinking it. Which is essentially what you do when you swim with a PEG--at least if you are in the water for any length of time--water will (gradually-not in a large amount all at once) leak through the PEG incision into your stomach. My MO told me a story about a patient that had one and didn't realize he couldn't swim and went swimming in the lake here (NOT drinking quality) and wondered why he had to pee so much after being in for quite a while.
That's why they tell you not to take a bath too--you don't want soapy water in your stomach. Obviously unclean and soapy water can also irritate the incision site too.
So the common advice from doctors is not to swim BUT if you go to the Oley foundation website (a foundation for people stuck with PEGS and other tpyes of feeding tubes), there is slightly different advice:
http://oley.org/lifeline/TubetalkJO05.htmlnote that this is a *patient's* perspective. I am sure there are doctors that would say she's taking some risks swimming even in the palces she considers safe.
Nelie
