Jamie-

Please ask her doctor if you can get a referral for a speech pathologist and/or physical therapy. They can help her not only with gentle/lymphatic massage like Mark suggested but they will help her learn to retrain/adjust to her atrophied or damaged muscles by compensating with different ones. The dysphasia (swallowing difficulties) tends to increase some of the anxiety that goes with just the recovery process (I work with patients that often have difficulty swallowing and sometimes they get full blown panic attacks). Like there aren't enough different things to adjust to after treatment then have to struggle with the difficulty of "if I swallow - where's it going to go?"

Karen? Did you have issues with the rice? I seem to recall Ed having a tough time and more than once having it go one of three places (the nose, the trachea or the esophagus). Scared me more than once. He still can't talk while sitting at the table eating. Something about it seems to throw the muscles off and work the way they're supposed to with the opposite function/intent. ARGH! Fretful for us almost as much as him!

Hang in there Jamie! Its kind of neat that your mom asked you to ask the real experts (the cancer surviors themselves)! Wish her well for me and tell her I am so pleased at her progress to date.

Susan