New NG tube

Back at the Marsden with J most of the day today. Once again J's parents where there to help.

They have put a new NG tube in which was painful. It was done by a doctor who admitted afterwards he had not done one since 1997, all the specialist nurses are understandably enjoying the holiday season.

It's a straightforward procedure - you get a small flexible pipe and slide it up the nostril of your choice and wiggle it until they get it as far as it will go, then they encourage you too swallow it be keeping trying to swallow as they push it down into your stomach. I ended up taking over and shoving it in myself during my retching and gagging. The doctor was delighted! This was followed by more blood tests and x-rays and prescriptions. To finish they covered my face in ugly, painful to remove surgical tape to keep the tube in place. Megads.

More surgery in New Year

We have also decided to switch to a PEG tube. This is a tube that is punched through the stomach wall out of you tummy. This means I will not need the NG. It is more stable however requires surgery to be put in place. This is the route we should have taken six weeks ago.

They have booked a PEG tube insertion which is another operation most likely under general anasthetic - for Tuesday, which means I will be back in hospital on Monday, overnight for the op on Tues, and overnight Tues night for observation. We may call this off depending on whether I can get myself to eat something this weekend.

This is disappointing as we have all focussed on getting to the new year, which is when conservative estimates of recovery reckoned I would basically be in the clear. We have always understood that 2-3 weeks after RT things would dramatically start getting better.

There is no way J and I will be back to normal/work at the beginning of jan which is also a big blow.