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     From the moment I lost the ability to swallow, all my nourishment was provided by a daily intake of 1500 mls of milk based, liquid food ( Ensure plus ) plus another 750 mls of fluids. Since I had a complete lack of appetite, and could not taste anything, I scheduled my food intake by the clock. I found it most convenient to feed overnight. The whirring of the feed pump was a comforting sound which lulled me to sleep and somehow I always managed to avoid getting tangled up in the connecting tube.

 When the food bottle emptied, the pump stopped and bleeped for attention. It was tedious, but important, to flush the PEG tube with water before and after pushing anything through, as blockages are difficult to clear and infections could be introduced. Care was also required to ensure all the connections were secure to avoid any leakage, as I found to my cost on one occasion. Liquid food is very sticky when wet and sets to a yellow concrete goo if spills are not dealt with quickly.

  I restricted my diet to the essentials for maintaining my weight and taking adequate fluids, basically liquid food (Ensure Plus) and water. Apart from curiosity, there didn't seem any point in  pushing tea, coffee, gin and tonic, or any other luxury through the PEG tube, although some patients thought it was worth a try and kept up their morale by doing so.   A few fellow patients were averse to the idea of a PEG tube and, against advice, struggled through without one, taking the liquid food orally, supplemented with ice cream and jelly in some cases. Personally, I regard the PEG tube as a life saver and could not have survived without it.

This is a picture of me taken about two weeks after the end of radiotherapy, connected up to the feed pump. You can see the radiation burns clearly on the left side of my face, and neck. The right side has a similar burn pattern.