Hi All,

Can anyone give me any idea what is going on with my peg?
It's been insitu for a year now. Up until about three weeks ago I have not had any problems, though the past few weeks have found that if I roll over onto my left hand side when I'm lying down I get a fairly severe pain under my left rib.
This happens if I am hooked up to the pump or not. I don't think it's stuck. I can still turn the tube with no problem.
Any ideas?

Thanks
SusieR

Hi SusieR!
This sounds very familiar as even though I was still twisting my PEG Deb was finding it hard to force the 2CAL-NH down the syringe, Deb would feed me as I would have to hold my side to stop the the pain just below my PEG site, which was on my left side below my ribs. It always fed but was slowly getting harder to force it in, On one or two occasions I would have to use a 10ml syringe and squeeze it very hard and quickly to open up (I think this is the term) the line and then I would go back to the 60ml syringe.
This was a great concern to me as I was unable to put anything down my throat so I was losing wieght again, anyway Deb contacted the Dietician at the RAH and he said (after a few phone calls) us to go back to the RAH and report to the ward that put the PEG in initially.
Upon arrival I was taken into the ward (Day Clinic) and had to wait for an Hour or so, but they finally rolled me into the operating theatre where the Doc said that it was too early to change the PEG (arrigant prick) But when he tried to force water down the tube he couldn't get any down HAHA (drop kick)anyway I diverse, finally he just (after trying to push it back in my stomach,more pain)just pulled it out (christ MORE pain) then they sprayed down my throat and with the use of an endoscope and some guide wires replaced the PEG which worked perfectly, YAH HOO. The Doc said that the PEG had turned sideways in the stomach wall and therefore was cinked and blocked. Since having this done I havent had any pains in my side or trouble feeding.
I hope this helps you out Sue and get on to it quickly as we don't want you losing too much weight and getting crook
Love TREV

"Obstacles are what you see when you take your eye off the goal"

Hi Trev,
Thanks for the answer but "Oh shite"!!!!!
I'll mention it when I'm back at the consultant on the 23rd. So far there is no problem getting anything down the peg but it does get pretty bloody sore if I lie the wrong way.
I don't like the idea of them just yanking it out, I remember reading an old post somewhere where that happened to someone else too, apparently it was excrutiating!I think I'd probably end up belting someone if they did that to me. We all have had enough pain to go through without them adding to it.
I can't afford to loose any more weight, I'm so skinny now I look disgusting with no clothes on.
As it's Halloween I think I might get naked and hang myself in the window, I would look like a live skeleton, I could scare all the local kids witless!!!!! ha ha
SusieR XXX

SusieR, you have a wicked sense of humour! The thought of witless Halloween 'trick or treat' kids running scared down the streets saying "never again" had me laughing hard

Vinod(wicked sense of imagination)

Tell me Susie ~ would you consider that a trick or a treat for those poor unsuspecting kiddies!!!
Deborah

Susie,as well as turning the tube every day,once a week i had to unclip the peg at the end that goes into the stomach,and push it in as far as i could,and then pull it back out again.This was to prevent it becoming embedded in the stomach wall.It also allowed me to clean any discharge that had accumulated.
some people do have to have the tube repalced after extensive use so i would get it checked out.

As for the removal,i understand it is a bit like ripping off a plaster,the quicker it is done the less it hurts!!!!

liz

Dear Suzie,
I have had about five peg changes since 2000 and it seems pretty tame stuff now compared to the pain I went through when it was inserted in July 2000.I abide with what Liz recommened. There is no such thing as its too early to change the peg as I know for certain that if you are having pain there is a problem.
I keep a stock of about three pegs at home as I have had this terrible experience not once, twice but four times when the idiotic thing would just pop out. Once the baloon inside the stomach had deflated the peg will not work and pain is horrorfic but the peg come out very easily.
I do not know if Liz was recommended to keep a nice thick cushioning of gause between the peg and you stomach as this will decrease the chances of the thing irritating rubbing against yur skin which also leads to pain. However, as I said what Liz said about looking after the peg is important - the peg hole should be comforable enough to turn the peg around so that the tissues do not grow around it.
In my case however, the peg was never pulled out but just popped out after the baloon had deflated and I had to get a hand towel and walk around with it till I could meet my doctor who would replace it in about five minutes.
Hope the above is of some help.
With lots of love to you Trev but the xx and hugs belong to the my sweethearts here including you.
Ananth

i am getting my peg done 12th nov under a g.a because i had a gastric bypass my surgeon is going to try a new approach by putting the peg in the part of my stomach thats redundant from the bypass.seeing a few peeps here having problems with their peg i'm getting a bit anxious but at the same time cant wait to get the n.g tube out as its making my throat ever so sore all the time.love to all shirl xxx

*roflmao*
omg!!
Thats sooooo funny!
Skeletal Susie!
I used to threaten to take the cap off and squirt my stomach bile at my little sister for being cheeky!
All very well,except when the cap actualy comes loose when youre asleep and the contents of your stomach empties itself on the bed sheets. Mmmmm!

Hi! Susie, Chelle, Shirl,Ananth,Doc,
Well things are changing in my department and I am feeling bettr in myself, so last night I thought I would try some real food down my throat as I am finding that I can take more water at a time lately so I made up a Cup-O-Soup(Asian Thia Green Curry Soup) and removed the Croutons the peas and carrot and some of the Noodles, I had to wait for it to cool(I am a sook with hot foods) I had a glass with my Panadol Rapids in and proceeded to eat my soup Yahoo it worked, I took it slowly and got it down and even had a hand full of crisps(Deb left them on the counter)these went down reasonably well but I had to drink a lot, anyway I was rapped and so decided to have a real breakfast today and made a bowl off Uncle Toby's Oats (Porridge) that was a total fail the milk stired up the Mucus in my throat and set the gag muscle working so of to the bathroom and brought the whole lot up again along with my heart tablets.
Well that has put me behind as now I find I am knackered again and am decidedly dizzy, and have a very sore throat, Deb said next time don't use milk maybe, But even with this set back I am going back to work next week but only for 3 - 4 hours at a time, hell thats a plus.
Take care all and I am looking orward to chatting again

Love Trev



My Karma ran over your dogma.

Hiya Trev,
That is really good news as it has got you to a certain point where you know how far you can push yourself with the least amount of problems. I am more then sure you will be able to down all the kinds of food that you want in a short while. I can understand Deb's concern and you could think of some alternate to milk to add to the oats.
I had quite a time last evening, when I decided that I was going to have a beer "Fosters"- by the way. I went and bought two cans and then had one pouring it slowly down my peg. I am not sure what exactly happened after that - but I know I have a handover and a can still to be finished!
Lots and lots of love,
Ananth

hi trv hi all
well done trev with that cup a soup and crisps pity about breakfast but hey what a milestone!i find that whenever i try to eat my throat gets very sore and i guess its because its all new again to the throat.keep it up mate well done.love shirl xxx

Evening Trev. You sound just like Brian was 3yrs ago, one day good with a food then the next, a sore throat. But it got better as he tried different things. Milk on the porridge certainly did increase the mucus & we tried Almond milk, oat milk, rice milk. all of which were fine but settled onto a Soya milk which he,s used untill a few weeks ago. He,s now "graduated" via skimmed milk back to whole milk again (3yrs on). He's still too dry in the morning for anything but porridge, but other meals are back to normal but I feel elated that he has come on so well.
I feel so happy for you that you are going in the same direction, its a slow improvement but you'll get there.
Take care at work, love to you both. Fran.

Hey Trev,
That's a HUGE mile stone!
Dont let the porridges set you back though. I continued to have a few bouts of sickness when i started eating again also.
I too started with soup, my lovely mum did me loads of home made soups. & i went on to ready brek, instant oats. They're smoother than porridge so i made it really runny. Added some manuka honey too.& it soothed my throat in the morning. Washed down with lots of water.
Also added some black current cordial to my water and got really adventurous!

Its exciting and frustrating tying things again. & if sometthing isn't a success try it again in a couple of weeks.
I'm so pleased for you!!
Michelle

Hi,
Been a bit sick (understatement) the past week and not really been up to sitting with the lap top, I had to stay off college too.

My neck got really sore and I was getting very bad dizzy fits, puking and massive temp surges.
It turns out that I have an infection AGAIN.
This time though it is not discharging, there is no leakage at all so everything is inside. Yuk, Yuk, Yuk !
Obviously the anti-b's I was given a few weeks ago did not clear up the infection that was already there and it's just got worse. I'm now on a high dose of Cifloxager for ten days.
I'm back at the consultant on Tuesday and I think he'll be booking me in for another scan to see if there is some diseased bone still in there that is causing the problem. If it means operation number five, I'm going to freak!!!

Todays good news is - my peg is feeling better. There was a load of gunge came out from round the tube today. I guess that was infected too, my whole immune system is totally messed up. I'm still going to mention it on Tuesday though and get it checked out.

Shirl - don't let us put you off getting a peg fitted. Mine has been insitu for over a year before this happened. Considering it's used on a daily basis and at one time it was used for everything, it's hardly surprising that there might be a hiccup or two. The majority of the time I forget it's there.
You could always think up some other uses for it like Chelle!. I loved the squirting gastric juices idea, I got a great giggle at that.

Nice one Chelle, I might have to borrow that threat.

Dr. Joshi - You think my skeleton idea was wicked! Youv'e not heard nothing yet!!!

Treat for me Debs, stuff the kids! we deserve all the laughs we can get.

Liz - if getting the tube out is like ripping off a plaster, maybe I could stand it. I still don't think I'd like to chance it though. If I've got to have the fifth op, it might be an idea to get it changed then but I'm hoping that now the gunge is coming out it will be OK.

Ananth - when you put the beer down the peg can you taste it? I know that might sound stupid but before when I was not allowed to take anything orally for months, when I put different things in mine, food, medication, supplements, sometimes I could taste them. In future when I'm having a glass of stout, I'll raise my glass and send you a mental "cheers".

Trev - How's the work going, what do you do by the way? Glad to hear your managing to eat too.
My favourite at the moment is avacado, blue or brie cheese and mayonaise all mashed together. Slides down a treat and all those lovely calories to put on weight.

Love to all
SusieR