Cancer Survivors Network

If you are getting surgery, and if a peg tube is required, this will probably be inserted while you are sedated. Whomever suggested the Gastro doc made a great suggestion. I think, as a rule, if and when you go into surgery, there will be a team there, including perhaps an ENT, a GI doc, an anesthesiologist, etc.

I can tell you this: once it is in, it is not painful, and though it may at seem first inconvenient, it is a quite manageable way to get nutrition for the time during which you need it.

I happened to be wide awake when they replaced mine, and watched them do it on an overhead screen. Of course, this was a replacement, so the hole was already there (or, as they say on tv, I'm a professional -- don't try this at home :)).

Continued best wishes,

Joe

Oh, and there is this: When the bubble popped on my first peg tube, I woke in the morning feeling something was different, but not knowing what it was at first. Luckily, the dog hadn't eaten the tube YET so it was still on the carpet. It had fallen out! To get a new one in without getting a new hole in the body, I went to the ER and had it replaced by the doc in ER that day. Well, it was about six feet long (okay, three, but still...) and there was no bumper attached, so that, ultimately, my stomach started sucking it in. This causes cramps, I discovered the hard way. So there are very good reasons to get a licensed professional to do this for you...I'm just not sure how qualified