I had a feeding tube in for 8 years, so I will give you my honest opinion about them and try to answer some of your questions. I had the tube placed when I was a freshman in high school and had it removed around 3 weeks after my transplant because I was healthy and gaining weight on my own.
1. Why would someone opt to put that tubing down your nose for feedings instead of the gtube/mickey button? I know one is not a surgery, but the whole nose thing sounds awful! Some people decide to NG tube because the gtube is a surgery and you will have a hole in your stomach (which is of course plugged up). If you are thinking this is temporary or at least hoping it is, maybe you should give the NG tube a chance in the doctors office. See if you can do it. Sometimes, the g-tube ends up being a bit more permanant than you originally hoped.
2. Is the surgery for a gtube general anesthesia? Is it considered a major surgery or minor? For my g-tube placement I was under conscious sedation. It is my belief that I was only on oxygen, not intubated or anything like that. When I had my g-tube removed that was under general anesthesia since they need to cut the stomach for fresh cuts and then sew everything back together. My tube was in too long to expect the whole to close up on its own. Learned that the hard way when I drank a cup of coffee and the entire thing poured out of my stomach.
3. Once you gain the weight you want with the gtube and then you stop the feedings, how is it that you are able to maintain that weight if you're used to not eating that many calories? I'd like to think that I would stop the feedings after like 6 months or something, but I'm not sure I'll be able to eat the crazy amount of calories that the tube provided. Any thoughts? I was never abel to stop the feedings. My body got used to that level of calories and nutrition and as I got older, and more sick I basically used the g-tube to maintain weight. And by that time, i was still losing weight even though i was doing feedings. In the first year i had the feeding tube i rocketed from 78 lbs to 94 lbs. As soon as i got really sick i was back down to 78 and still doing feedings.
4. If you stop the feedings and get it taken out, how many people have been able to keep it out versus having it put back in? What are those odds like? I think i'm a bit different here since i had mine taken out post transplant so by that time but body was quite different.
5. Can you wear bikinis anymore, or do you switch to 1 pieces? Just curious. while i had the feeding tube in I wore tankinis. Now despite all of my scars i wear bikini's. I look at my scars as war wounds and the feeding tube scar believe it or not is worse than the chest tube scars or the scars from the lung tx.
6. Based on my stats above, would you do it or would you feel like you don't need it for whatever the reasonings? preventative is always good. While there were times that i felt the feeding tube was the worst part of my CF maintenance, i do credit that with keeping me alive. without that extra nutrition i would have withered away to nothing, and would probably not have made it through tx.
7. As an adult, any of you consider it more dangerous to get now versus as a kid?
I'm not a doctor, but i don't see much of a change in the risk.
Getting a g-tube is a very personal decision. Mine came at a very delicate time in life when for a girl body image was everything. I did get my period around 6 months after i had it in, and i developed and "caught up" with my friends. So in that sense it was great.
Cons for me were always being tied to that thing at night. Sleeping out was impossible. If i went on vacation I skipped it. I did not like having something in my stomach. It leaked and the skin around the feeding tube was always hurting. And my clothes always had stains from stomach acid. Again, despite all of these cons that one big Pro that stands out is it kept me alive.
