My PEG tube bumper was put on incorrectly - twice: the second time

I'm still surprised this was ever an issue the first time. It left me wary and annoyed with IR in general. When I was hospitalized for a very bad infection in my abdomen, my PEG tube had to be replaced. It was not in the right position and bleeding and leaking often, as well as causing a lot of pain!

An x-ray showed It was dislodged and there was a moderate amount of fluid and gas in my abdomen from infection around the tube. I started to have excruciating pain in my abdomen and it was swollen - and it all started with a sore from the bumper that was put in incorrectly!

The pain went down significantly once the tube was removed and I had a few doses of IV antibiotics. The bumper of the tube once again had the flat part facing away from my body and the stem against my skin. The edges were rounded and the bumper material was soft and flexible, so it didn't hurt or scratch me but I couldn't tighten it properly.

I talked to my nurse, hospitalist, and someone from interventional radiology about my concerns. The nurse and hospitalist told me that they'd seen a lot of people with this particular brand and type of tube and they all had the bumper stem against the skin. It was a newer tube design and IR told them that this was all part of the new type of tube. I was suspicious, but they seemed confident and it didn't hurt.

I stayed a couple of nights in the hospital before being discharged. The infection was absolutely miserable but I got through it. The bumper position was awkward, but it didn't hurt, so I dismissed it. I scheduled a checkup with my gastroenterologist, but I had to wait a few weeks.

Then my stomach started to suck the tube in much, much more than normal. I had to go to the emergency room twice to check the placement of the tube and make sure that it wasn't partially in my small intestine! The entire tube - minus the adapter - would be in my stomach. When it did that, it had a death grip on it and I couldn't pull it out.

For weeks, it would get sucked into my stomach (significantly more than it should) and then randomly spit it out. It was worse when I was hungry or had muscle spasms, but still not entirely predictable. I wasn't able to pull it out and if I attempted to, it would just leak out a lot of stomach contents.

Because the internal balloon wasn't up against the wall of the stomach, the seal wasn't very good and it would leak out stomach contents. This was extremely bad when my stomach contents consisted of water and my medications! This not only irritated my skin, but prevented me from getting the full dosage of my medications absorbed - and left me with no way to measure what was lost and how much!

Though I couldn't see the specifics, I did notice an increase in my symptoms. It was quite a miserable time.

With all the issues I'd had, I called the IR clinic that placed it. I told them my issues and that I suspected the bumper was put on incorrectly. It took several minutes to explain to the person I talked to that I didn't mean the ENTIRE tube was upside down - even though I specified it was the bumper?! Once that was out of the way, they began arguing with me and implied that it was ridiculous to even ask them that; they swore it was a new design; they were offended that I would dare accuse them of a mistake!

Interestingly, they also were trying to get me to come back and get it replaced as soon as possible…

Even if I didn't live six hours away from that hospital, I wouldn't be eager to go back to them. Instead, my gastroenterologist was able to get me in sooner. He confirmed my suspicion: the bumper was incorrectly placed. He was just as surprised as disappointed as I was.

Because the local IR clinic had put in a tube incorrectly and I needed to have my stomach looked at, he scheduled me to have an EGD and placed the tube himself. Thank goodness!