Thank you kevin for your response about your vital stim experience....it is just nice to know that there is some hope when the speech pathologisr has told my dad that they are out of " conventional" ways to help him and now they need to think out of the box. I'm praying it will work. Can you tell me about how expensive the treatments were? My mom is nervous knowing they aren't covered by insurance....guess the insurance company must think feeding tubes are less expensive than other options huh? Also....when you said you failed 2 swallowing tests.....could you explain more? Did you get anything down? Did you do the barium test? Did they give you any more detailed info from it? They told my dad they he had some stricture, but his vocal cords were working and the good news is that there was no sign of reoccurrence of any cancer or anything. They also told me that he has some fibrosis from the radiation he's had. I will try to get all of his history and post that on a signature...he has been through soooo much it is hard to remember. Thank you!!!!!!!

Christine...sorry if I did something wrong by posting 2 DIFFERENT questions....I am just trying to get some advice i can pass on to my dad. I am new to this so I would appreciate your patience.