Welcome to OCF!

At just 6 months post rads, your father is still in the recovery mode. A complete recovery can take as long as 2 years. During that time your father will see many ups and downs and unfortunately most patients will also have some setbacks from time to time. At his treatment facility is there a speech pathologist available?

Over the years, there have been numerous posts about the VitalStim therapy. If you type a keyword into the search box located up towards the top right of the page, you can find many posts on this. Heres a link to one of the threads...

VitalStim discussion

As far as the throat stretching or dilatation are concerned, Ive heard many good things about them. Some members have mentioned the process many have to be done a few times before any noticeable progress. It also may need to be repeated every so often to help keep the throat open so it is functioning properly. If you do a search, Im sure you will come across many helpful posts discussing this.

Hang in there! Your father is well past the worst of it. In time, he should still notice more improvements.

Best wishes!