I wish I only had dysphagia instead of aphagia. Brian is spot on about the importance of the RO planning the IMRT to avoid the swallowing muscles/area as much as possible. While my throat was too sore to eat solids, I had no real swallowing problems despite 40 IMRT. Soon afterwards I was back to eating regularly. My RO said it was a combo of no PEG so I was always adjusting my swallowing to the changes (like the old story of Hercules lifting a calf until it became a bull) plus careful radiation planning
Even when the cancer came back and I had to have a second dose of concentrated radiation via CyberKnife, my RO miminized the radiation exposure. Of course the radiation didn't help or cure the physical damage caused by the surgery but even the little bit of "spray" made recovery from the surgery impossible for me.

I want to be clear that the PEG put in the second time did NOT cause my inability to swallow now. It's a complex combination of reduced base of tongue retraction with reduced contact to the posterior pharyngeal wall and incomplete cricophyaryngeal muscles relaxation. This results in pooling in the pyriform sinuses and vallecula of the bulk of what I try to swallow which means aspiration and pneumonia if I do not use the PEG tube exclusively. I had high hopes for swallowing therapy and VitalStim electrical treatment but the MBS all show no improvements.
Charm