We went to the ENT today to discuss Tim's inability to swallow anything even though radiation ended 5 weeks ago. He's been om a PEG for 11 weeks. He was scoped and was diagnosed with an esophogeal stricture due to the mucositis causing an adhesion. He's been scheduled for a swallowing study and then will have a dilation. The good news is the thrush is gone and it appears the tumor is gone as well although we won't know for sure until the CT scan in a few weeks. Danny G - I know you have been through this - how long did it take you to swallow after the dilation?

just wondering how you made out with the swallowing test? did he have it yet? Glad that the tumor appears to be gone!
Tami

dsm,
Grand news about the tumor and the thrush. Sounds like things are finally moving in the right direction! Keep us posted on the swallowing eval, and tell hubby practice, practice, practice onece the dilation is successful. It's gonna be tincture of Time like every other rehab, but he sounds like the kind of guy that will keep at it until he succeeds.

Live Well,
Andrea

Not so good news with the swallowing evaluation today. Looks as if they will have to do the dilation through his PEG tube. It will be a joint procedure with the GI and ENT docs. Anyone else ever have this done?
Sheila

dsm,
I let me give you my experience. I had a radical neck disection and 33 rad treatments. I had and still have trouble swollowing but it is getting better. My rad treatments ended feb of 04. During last summer I could not swallow. I had a total of 9 dilatations. I do not know what kind Tim is getting. My were through the mouth. I had a stricture as well. My oncologist eventually sent me to hyperberic treatments. This is where the patient breaths o2 under pressure. I went 6 days a week for 29 treatments. My stricture did go away. I still had difficulty swallowing. I went to another specialist in NY and he did what is called a FEEST test (Fiberoptic Endoscopic Evaluation of Swallow Test). Better then the normal swallowing study. He can see on a monitor in color how the throat works during swallowing. For me, my throat on one side was not 'squeezing' at all. He told me the only thing that may help is me doing exercises. The exercise he recommended is the shaker. I was on the peg from oct 03 to feb 05. I started the shaker in dec 04. Until that time, I could only swallow thin liquids. Within 3 months, I could get all my nutrition via liquid and had the peg removed. Within another few months, I could start to swallow more types of food, although to this day I must swallow water to get anything down, but it's better than the peg. I did the exercise 3 times a day. I still do those exercises. I hope this helps and wish you well. You can find more info on the Shaker and FEEST exercise if you google it.
Jeff

Thanks to everyone for your advice. We decided to have a second opinion on the dilation through the PEG. This time we consulted with a GI doc. He dialted him through his mouth this morning with no problems at all. I am going to check into that Shaker exercise, Jeff.
Sheila

Wish you well. Let us know how you make out.
Jeff