Tony,
You should be happy with getting the surgery for the voice prosthesis. I was one of the lucky ones who had it installed at the same time as the surgery. I found it easy to use although it did clog from time to time and they forget to give me the brush to clean it and unclog it.

I was told my radiation should start 6-8 weeks after my first ND so it sounds like she is in the right time frame. The surgery to install the prosthesis is simply making a small cut in the esphageal wall (I am no surgeon, remember) and installing the device. The latter is no big deal and takes two minutes. My speech therapist changes mine every three months. You can't ignore these ndoes in the neck, so either radiation or surgery or both needs to be done.

You also need to get the Barretts checked out and treated. You don't want this to turn into cancer of the esphagus. I suggest you might ask if whatever needs to be done should be done BEFORE they put in the prosthesis because when they did tried to get the camera down my esaphagus to check things out, they could not get it past the prosthesis.

Keep us posted.

Take care,
Eileen