Hi LJ,
I WISH I could blow off all those doctors! I have seen more doctors since this business started than in 10 of my precancer lifetimes. Many of us here can relate to procrastination ;-)

To start with take a deep breath and repeat after me:

"God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can,
and the wisdom to know the difference."

The odds of him getting a recurrence at the original tumor site are fairly diminshed after 2 years.

It may be as simple as thrush causing both the pain and the swallowing problems - has he been on a course of antibiotics lately? That would do it. Thrush is easily cured but can be serious if left untreated - maybe you can use this as an excuse to get him to go back to the doctor. Although recurrences can be nasty, it is speculative that "nothing can be done" -don't tell that to the folks here who have survived recurrences. What the doctor said was a real diservice.