Hi Steve, It's funny Jack had a hard time with mashed potatoes too even when he was eating harder things like a hamburger and nachos with melted cheese - go figure. For some reason potatos were like cement in his mouth whether they were baked, mashed, with butter or gravey. It just didn't work for him for 5 months and made absolutely no sense. He also had a problem with pudding and ice cream unless it was in the protein milk shakes. Red sauce took 5 months and spicey is still hard for him.

At 2 months post treatment we did a road trip to Virginia see my nephew compete in the junior olympics. Jack still had his feeding tube but was experimenting with eating so he could get rid of it. We found one of those great all you can eat southern seafood buffets and that was the turning point. There was several rooms of food to try and he had a great time going from dish to dish to see what worked and what didn't. He found crab imperial and oysters rockerfeller worked that night - and would go back and stand at the buffet until they brought out new hot batches of the stuff that he liked.

You're on a roll - go find a buffet.

I think the therabyte was worth it for Jack, we got a prescription so it was covered by our insurance. You do need to make it part of your daily routine or it's useless, David is right about that. Jack went to a speech therapist following treatment and also found that helpful. His speech was very good but as he got tired that lisp thing was there. People who didn't know his voice extremely well would not have noticed but it bothered him. There are exercises that will improve your swallowing as well as your speech so it's worth a consult. The muscles in your mouth need exercise just like an arm or leg, and it's the type of thing you can learn and do yourself. Considering everything you've just gone through, the rehab is the good part. It makes you feel like you're doing something positive and you see results.

Regards JoAnne
PS ...and we got to see my nephew win a gold medal so it really was a good trip