Bee, a patient with a Peg Tube, has kindly written a blog about her experience of her recent Peg insertion.

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I went to hospital as I couldn’t eat or drink, they put a NG (nasogastric) tube in my nose, this goes through the nose, down the throat into the food pipe and then down into the stomach. (It is not a nice feeling but try to relax and it is over pretty quickly!)

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The NG tube can move so they have to check the stomach acid levels a lot, you may need x-rays to make sure it’s in the right position. The NG tube gave me drinks, food and my medicines (it tickles which for me I found funny.) A NG tube is a short term thing, usually, so a doctor may come and talk to you about a feeding tube in your stomach, sounds more scary than it is, I promise!

 

The doctors spoke to me about a peg and what would happen.  Basically I would be fed through a tube in my stomach and have all my fluids, even my medications.

 

Operation day was pretty scary but it’s important to think about the benefits that your feeding tube will make. The operation itself is pretty quick, I was given a medicine to make me relax and my throat was sprayed with this numbing spray which tasted like bad bananas!

You don’t feel the camera really but it is an odd feeling, the sedative had really started to work so I don’t remember much else...

 

When I had come round the tube was in, I felt a bit of pain for a few days but pretty soon you get used to the feeling and get on with life.

The tube has not only saved my life but improved my quality of life, I get everything I need and I’m getting used to it.

 

My advice to you is don’t worry or over think and you can get some really cool things to make it easier for you like patterned or shaped pads that go around the peg, belts and even coloured feed and funky back packs.

Embrace the tube, don’t hide it and share your experiences...

 

Written by a fellow tubie warrior Bee x