Hi Jonelle and everyone else.

First thing I want to say is "yes", I agree with Tammy above. Make sure that he is getting this specific problem addressed. He can't be the only one with this problem.

Also too, those of us who have not been able to eat via mouth/throat route and use the peg tube instead... kudos to you. Fight for your life, and win in all cases. We have that choice and having a strong attitude to live is crucial to a happy life.

Xantippi here, and happy to say that I going into my first year since my oral surgery. That big surgery was done in March of 2013 at UCSF in San Francisco. So happy that they were such great doctors. Was a 13 hour surgery. !!!

My salivary glands, a lot of the bottom of my mouth and my tongue were all removed and then rebuilt. Tongue was rebuilt with flesh, muscle and vein from my left forearm at my wrist.

I never had a stomach plug (eating tube) installed, but did go home from the hospital with my feeding line inserted thru my nose in tact. I was fed by my partner this way for perhaps 3 to 4 weeks after my return home. I was learning how to eat during that time, but I could not consume enough food thru my mouth to keep me alive.

But little by little I was able to eat soft, wet foods with little or no real chewing needed. Apple sauce was a staple... Chicken noodle soup... the noodles would just slide down my throat. I had to remove the pieces of chicken tho... I would choke on those. And of course a 6pk of Ensure every day or two.

Actually... I like the CVS store brand liquid nutrition best because it is the only liquid nutrition that comes in a can rather than in a plastic container. Who needs BPE at this time in my life? Right...? Aaaand... it is much less expensive. Often on sale... 3-6pks for the price of two... or buy one and get one free. Can't beat that!!!
!

After a few months of recovery it was time for Radiation Therapy!!! O M G !!! I had 35 sessions and believe me when I say I really thought I would die before that therapy was completed.

After my first session I had thrush! Immediately I began to suffer unbelievable pain. Day after day the treatment left me with impossible side effects until finally I could no longer eat anything. My nose feeding tube was long gone... and my radiation doctor and the "team" were cheering me on but I was vomiting all day every day. Day and night I suffered. Medication to help with the nausea didn't work for me... My pain medications couldn't go down and for what ever reason, the doctor did not think it was necessary for me to have a feeding tube inserted into my stomach. That peg feeding tube thing.

I went from approx. 175#'s at time of surgery to 105#'s by the time I actually started eating enough to gain weight. I lost 70 #'s over a period of 8 months.

While I was undergoing radiation therapy... about half way thru, it was discovered that I had lung cancer. This was a tumor in my right lung in the top chamber, caused by smoking. I had quit smoking about 4 years earlier, but too late to keep me from getting cancer. It was not at all the same cancer I had in my mouth. Lucky me...!

My doctors decided that the tumor could be successfully removed... so in Oct 2013 I had that surgery.

The whole time I was in the hospital I could not eat. I couldn't even drink Ensure... which is normally a staple in my everyday diet. Nothing went down my throat except water. Everything else came back up. I could not keep anything down.

That was in early October of last year. Today is Jan 20, 2014 and I am just finishing lunch. Everything I eat is soft and wet... like beefaroni (my favorite)... spaghettio's... another favorite... macaroni & cheese... oatmeal with maple syrup and lots of organic milk... yum!!!

I can now eat steamed spinach and poached eggs... I like everything with slices of sharp cheddar cheese melted on top via my microwave oven.

I do cough LOTS and yes, it's eating ONLY. No talking and eating at the same time. I almost choked to death last week when my partner and I were watching "Big Bang Theory" while we were eating dinner. I laughed so hard the food went down my windpipe and I could NOT get it out of my lungs. I am tall and very very thin, my partner is very short and "round"... she had to stand on our bed to try and give me the Heimlich Maneuver, but it didn't work. I just coughed and coughed for hours... no lie. I finally was able to cough the bit of food up and out of my lungs. I was about to call 911...! It was a serious incident.

After my lung surgery, my doctor and the nurses at the hospital were very adamant about my not aspirating food or drinks. I have had pneumonia often in my life, but I was told that I can no longer afford to become that ill... or to have food in my lungs.

So now when it is time to eat, I eat. And nothing else. No TV, no jabbering from my beloved... no cooing at any of our many kitties... nothing but eating slowly and calmly.

Week by week I am able to eat a larger variety of foods. I take each new food item slowly... I try to chew as much as possible and then when I swallow about half the time I'm good and the food goes down... and then the other half of the time, no matter how much I chew... that thing just will not go down.

So I discreetly remove the item from my mouth with paper napkin and move on to something else on my plate.

I can't eat potatoes mashed or otherwise. I have no salivary glands, so food tastes completely different now... unfortunately... and I have no way to break down the foods in my mouth. Sipping water as I am chewing helps a great deal... but very wet foods are really the key to my success.

Anything in lots of sauce, gravies, and the like. Most meat I can not eat regardless of the gravy... so I try to get my protein by eating eggs, beans... not so much. Beans, breads and potatoes turn into a paste (in my mouth) that I can not easily swallow. Strange, right?

Rice is out of the question as it feels that I am trying to swallow small pebbles. Terrible as I used to love brown rice.

Anyway, what I am trying to say is that months ago I thought I was really on the road to death... and I could not even think of eating anymore.

Today my range of edible foods grows by the week. I surprise myself anymore with the wide range of foods that I can eat and have learned to love. I mean... BEEFARONI? Really? Please.

I used to be a "foodie" and I would cook up a storm. I used to bake every week. I could have sold my baked goods but I am not motivated to work that hard... I was motivated to eat delicious foods that I could not find in restaurants.

NOW... it's Beefaroni... poached eggs over steamed spinach topped with slices of cheddar cheese... yum!!! I am alive, I have put on about 12 - 15 #'s in a about two month's time...a good rate and always going UP...!

I have a PET/CT Scan coming up real soon here... cross fingers that all is well. I feel great. I still sleep lots... hours at night and a nap during the day, every day.

But I am getting better. Day by day. Please encourage your husband, be cheerful... be happy in your own heart. Celebrate that he is alive and that you are able to cook for him... or at least prepare food items for him... knowing full well that with every day he eats and drinks what you bring him, he is getting stronger.

As long as he keeps putting one foot in front of the other and one more bite or swallow down his throat... cross fingers... send up a prayer of gratitude, what ever it is you do for spiritual support... know that he will be better.

My heart goes out to you... please do advocate for him regarding what Tammy said (above) because she is 100% correct. In the meantime stay positive and know we are here to help support you.

Best to you both and all of us in 2014. !!!