Husband Opted Not To Use Peg

Hello Everyone,

 Just wanted to share with you that my husband did not use the PEG.

He was told by his friend to get it but the oncologist nurse told him that many people don't use it and that she would be telling him to swallow every day anyway to keep him from having a hard time learning to swallow again or getting jaw problems. She also mentioned a patient with 2 children that had just gone through it and he wanted to be a normal as possible for his family and continued to work also. I think this story made him go for it without the peg.

I have to say, he has done better than I thought, of course it hurts but he takes ensure, boost and he gets down a bowl of Chinese egg flower soup each day. He has been a real trooper through this and can't wait to get it over with.

I must say also, he was overweight alaready at 250 lbs so he was able to take a loss in weight, which up to now is about 25 lbs. I realize most people who do not weigh too much would have to worry about significant weight loss and that is why they need the peg.

He has 2 radiation treatments to go. He had Erbitux for his chemo and that went very well, only some pimples not bad. He had some rashes and thrush and ulcers in his mouth but just kept rinsing with the salt/baking soda rinse.

For meds he has Hydracodene,and liquid morphine.

Hope this is of some help.

My wish for all of you is to get through this the best you can. We continued to go to movies and concerts from time to time. We just took the medicine with us and a litttle travel kit with all his neeeds.

God Bless

 

 

Hi, just a note.  My husband also opted not to use a PEG.  Being overweight to start with probably had some bearing on this being an option for him.   In seven weeks of chemo-radiation treatment, he lost 55 pounds.  That's just one pound shy of losing one pound a day!

 Anyway, the treatments are done - thank God.  And he looks good with a renewed commitment to keep the weight off. 

 Best of luck to all here - patients and caregivers.

I'm glad your husband didnt need a peg tube, and is doing ok without it. My doctors required that I get one, and I'm glad I did. I weighed just over 200 when I started treatment and I lost 43 pounds despite the feeding tube ( which I hated from the get go). I cant say as I recommend the chemo and radiation diet as a means of loosing weight.

Still, everyone is different, some do well without the tube, some cant survive without it.

It's aslo good to see that he feels up to keeping a fairly normal schedule. When I was at the end of my treatments, I didnt have the energy to do more than sleep 20 hours a day, so your guy is taking it well.

Best wishes,

Mike

well said mike,

 a lot depends on your field of radiation, your weight when you start treatment etc..  my guys doc strongly recommended the peg.  he relied on it after 2 1/2 weeks.  he has an unknown primary...he was blasted with radiation on both sides of his head and neck...and was just coming off of 9 week of weekly chemo infusions.  he too slept for what seemed like weeks...working was never an option.  5 weeks later he is just starting to be able to get out of the house for short outings.

 ~meesh

 

I took the blast on both sides of the neck for it seems like forever but I was a hardhead and was convinced I could get thru everything without the PEG.  I started at 187 and dropped to just under 168 so I feel fortunate.  My wife bought me Boost...too bad she bought a twelve pack of that God awful stuff...eleven of them went straight to the trash! When that didn't work, I literally lived on milk shakes with instant breakfast.  It must have done the trick...I guess.  Good luck.