Have you had a PEG feeding tube taken out before? If so, you could have given a dude a heads up!

GregP_WN · March 2020

Holy crapola! The rubber part that goes on the inside of your stomach is about the size of a quarter, and about as thick as 6 or 8 quarters stacked together. The hole that goes through your abdomen into your stomach is about the size of a pencil. And yep, you guessed it, that giant softball-sized piece of rubber gets yanked out of your belly through that pencil sized hole. But WAIT!! You say.....how can a beachball come through a hole the size of a pencil? Physics. If the Nurse Practitioner yanks hard enough on it it will come through that needle-sized hole. The pain from this 30-second procedure is going to linger on with me until July 4th.

If I had known how this would play out when I was deciding on a type of feeding tube I believe I would have chosen the old down the nose type. That howling, screaming, the cat getting caught in a window fan noise that you heard about 11 this morning was me screaming.

andreacha · March 2020

I am sitting here laughing. I'm sorry Greg. It wasn't that long ago that I told the story about feeding tubes which are "collapsible" or NOT. It was in response to someone else's post that I told about my experience. Mine was not collapsible. I'm amazed that Vandy didn't put in the less painful one. The doctor who was sent to my room to take it out took one look at it and told me that this will be the worst pain that I will ever experience. It was 10x worse than natural childbirth! I can feel your pain and I'm so sorry. Did you find out yet about the piece that will allow you to speak? Hope that's soon for you.

JaneA · March 2020

That sounds awful - they didn't numb it up before they removed it??????? I am so sorry.

GregP_WN · March 2020

@andreacha, the TEP valve is supposed to be put in sometime this month, whenever they can get me in the surgery schedule. This NP told me that it was going to be severe pain for about 60 seconds. Jane, as far as numbing, she explained to me that the pain would be coming from deep in my stomach and there's no way to numb that and a topical numbing creme wouldn't help. So, nope nothing to help besides pain pills when I got home. But, when we were in the ER shortly after this happened they did give me a dose of morphine and that knocked it out for a little while.

BuckeyeShelby · March 2020

Oh, Greg... You are a mess! And I think the ground shook in Ohio yesterday. I was wondering what that was... Hope it feels better before the 4th of July.

BoiseB · March 2020

Greg, I had 5 feeding tubes during my 1st cancer, 3 were nasal tubes and 2 were stomach tubes. Believe me it is much easier to remove the tubes that install them. And stomach tubes are much easier to remove than the nasal tubes. The Doc just snipped the stitches and told me now you have to start eating ,

GregP_WN · March 2020

Boise, wow, you must have had the type that inflates and slides out, others have told me about those. This thing was like having a square block on the end and pulling it through a round hole.