Peg

Hi Alan

I started using my PEG at the end of week 2 as I couldn't swallow anything and was worried about losing weight quickly, not to mention not being able to have pain medication. 

I suppose only you can decide what you can tolerate e.g. even if food tastes rank, can you put up with it for a bit longer to preserve your swallow a bit more?

I have suffered swallowing issues all the way through treatment and recovery. I'm 16 months post treatment and still struggle with swallowing alot of things.

Shirley

Hi Alan. Not too soon. If you can’t eat for one reason or another then use the PEG. Tell your radiographers tomorrow so that they can get your meal replacement drinks organised. I started by syringing them down my NG tube. That took forever so changed over to being pump fed at night. Left the days free

Do keep up your swallow and jaw exercises. 
Best of luck 

I was NG tube fed from week 4 for 8 weeks. 
Those swallow exercises kept me straight  and I still do them once a day four years on. 

Thanks Dani i will let them know tomorow. How does the overnight feeder work, you must have to sleep on your back 

Hi. Not too soon at all. I started using my PEG at week 4 but had lost weight & felt v weak by that point so really should have started sooner. I had  a small pump , linked up to it each night & was fed all the calories I needed overnight. I had to sleep propped up on several pillows. 

Hi Alan, it's not too early to use your PEG, use it as soon as you need to. I didn't have a peg, I had a RIG, which I think is more or less the same. The overnight feeds are fed through a pump, which you set at a certain flow rate, it's easy to set up, they will show you how to use it. You can sleep on your back, however I slept propped up, due to reflux. Hope this helps.

Ray. 

Shirley has your taste come back ?

Thanks all wondered how the night feed worked . It would take forever during the day using the small syringes 

Alanl said:

Thanks all wondered how the night feed worked . It would take forever during the day using the small syringes 

There’s a small pump. You can disconnect the bottle of food to go for a pee at night. It doesn’t make a significant noise. I fed through an NG tube which is a little more problematic than a PEG. I had to sleep propped up with pillows but I usually woke in the morning  on my side having slid down the pillows. I took myself off to the spare room and it was no problem. You have enough to remember with pain meds and mouth stuff in the day without having to add feed as well. 

This is the pump I was given for overnight feeding. Plug it in to charge it during the day. Have it on the floor next to the bed at night. I had it set at a slow pump rate so it drip fed over a 10 hour period. 

I was given completely unrealistic targets for my feeding. They wanted me to take 1500ml. The best I ever managed was half that.