Consider asking your ENT to write a prescription for speech and swallowing therapy. I did not need either the first time round and it was not until the surgery for the recurrence that I lost the ability to swallow. The standard is to do a modified Barium Swallow test to confirm the problem (MBS also requires a prescription) and then start treatment. Sooner is better than later as you have intuited. I started within a month of surgery and while the speech worked, the swallowing has not. Hope you do not need it, but keep in the back of your mind VitaStim, which is a form of electrical stimulation to the swallowing muscles that I learned about here on OCF. I am now in the middle of 12 VitaStim sessions and have notice an improvement but not enough to drink or eat, finally keep swallowing as much as you can. This is very very important in recovery, Good luck