Nocam

My case is a worst case scenario that should not worry you too much. The cumulative effect of both the salvage surgery and the extra radiation foiled all the best efforts of my SLP and even VitalStim electrical therapy. The partial tongue removal was mostly muscle plus it went down to the hyboid bone so it limited my ability to push the food back. The second round of radiation fried not only my epiglottis but also the cricopharyngeal muscles. Together with the radiation fibrosis, the SLP said that it impacted all three distinct components of swallowing, namely tonicity (fancy word for proper muscle contraction) between swallowing, relaxation at the initiation of swallowing, and transport of the bolus into the esophagus.

Bear in mind that after over three years I have had zero problems with aspiration. No pneumonia, no infections, nada. I'm just careful not to sip water or eat anything. It's fine to rinse my mouth, to gargle, to spit, to brush my teeth, to use flouride trays. That's why I had 4 MBS tests because I could "swallow" water without choking during my therapy sessions but the tests showed that not one drop was going to my stomach. Actually I have it much easier than some who can sometimes swallow food and have it go to the stomach and sometimes not.
At this point, I still have my larynx but it's unclear if that is still in my future with the recurrence.
My advice is to get a good speech language pathologist (SLP) who is trained in the swallowing exercises. They can work wonders, although not miracles.