Feeding tube patients: What's your experience?

I too am a 6+ yr survivor of ESCC. I've had a G tube due to massive, totally occlusive esophageal strictures. It's been a critical part of my prolonged survival although there have been a few bumps in the road along the way.
I've made a few posts about my experiences and advice re appropriate care and maintenence tips for feeding tubes last year. You should be able to find it if you look at my profile and posts. If not feel free to sende a reply via this forum and I'll be happy to share my experiences.

Welcome, @jlbrown7. I moved your question about the the feeding tube to this related discussion:
- Feeding tube patients: What's your experience? https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/feeding-tube-patients/

How is your brother doing? What treatments is he having?

03/09/2025

Hello, my brother was diagnosed recently wur Esophageal Cancer ( Squamous cell). My brother is 79 y/o, life time tobacco user and presented with difficulty swallowing solids and lately limited liquids.
He was provided with a feeding tube.
Any advice or recommendations would be appreciated.
Thanks for taking time to read my letter and I'm glad to have access to this message board.

Welcome, @mmiles04. How is your husband doing? Is his feeding tube permanent? How are YOU doing?

My husband started on Jevity 1.5 but now he’s on Boost High Calorie which runs about530 calories and 22 grams of protein.

You might try prochlorperazine—it's available as a suppository. Good luck.

I have had a g tube for 2 weeks but since starting chemo I get nausea before I get enough nourishment into myself, even with a pump unless I keep the pump running constantly or set the ml per hour high then the nausea is a problem.
Since my esophagus is blocked nausea isn’t able to be relieved - I cannot vomit. I take an anti nausea but there’s nothing for immediate relief. Should I ask my doctor for something like phenergin? I’ve had that in suppository years ago but it burned bad as I recall. Any ideas? Still losing weight as well 115 now ( 67 yr old male 5’6”) 135 my precancer weight

We switched brands one last time to Vital One peptides, which is supposed to be more digestible, but even that wasn't tolerated. Hubby subsequently had his j-tube removed and is now on TPN (IV nutrition)....it is easier on him because it goes right into his bloodstream but it, too, has caused problems. With not using his digestive system, his gallbladder filled with sludge (more likely when someone who is on IV nutrition). On the upside, vomiting is almost totally gone but he continues to have issues with nausea—emanating from the abdomen. The j-tube was removed more than one month ago and he still leaks bile from time to time—I was under the impression that it closes within hours. His "recovery" is and has been horrible.

I was on ISOSOURCE for several months and had some diarrhea but it got better.
Don

My husband had a ton of green fluid come out when his became dislodged. The people in interventional radiology stated it was the fluid surrounding the intestines and it stopped when he got his j-tube replaced.