My husband is six weeks post IMRT and has had the PEG for eight weeks. He is able to eat small amouts of food, but has no appetite. How much of the no appetite is the nutrition from the PEG or just the loss of appetite. He is getting all his nutrition from the PEG 2800+ calories. He wants the PEG out next week when we go back to Houston, but we aren't sure about how to proceed. Do you wean yourself off the PEG by eating more foods? Any ideas on procedure? Do you bite the bullet and get it out and force yourself to eat? Ideas, please

I have had my Peg since January & am getting it out tomorrow. (I am 11 weeks post IMRT). I started out at 124 lbs so couldn't afford to lose much weight. I am now at 113 and am eating small meals (which takes forever). A week and a half ago, I decided I wanted to get rid of PEG by 6/1 so I just started acting like I didn't have it to see if I'd be OK. I realized that I could eat more than I thought if I HAD to. Sometimes it's hard but I want to get rid of the PEG-I think it will mentally help me move on from this ordeal. Not to mention, the cap pops off some when I'm playing w/ my 2 year old & then I have "food" all over us. YUCK! So, have your husband slowly wean & act like the tube is gone. He'll know if he's ready or not. It won't be easy to not be able to rely on it.

DCS,
I kept the PEG until I was sure that I could get enough nutrition without it. In my case, like that of Brian Hill's, I needed it a long time and kept it for 10 months. Obviously most people can get rid of the PEG earlier, but there is no reason not to use it to supplement your diet if you still need to gain weight unless and until you are able to get sufficient nutrition from eating.

Good luck,
Danny G.

My husband has been on the peg for 6 wks. we are 3 wks out of treatments. He has 5 cans of the formula and 6-8 glasses of water per day.(all through his peg of course) Our Dr. told us when you can eat 500 calories. decrease a can and so forth. We are still taking baby bites of food, but that is our goal to work up to 500 cal per day and increase it. It will take a while I'm sure. One day at a time or one bite at a time!