DonnaJean, glad to hear that things are going well with John. During scan visit last week radiaton doc also ordered thyroid test, I guess, CBC and Chem 20, after my complaining about still not putting on weight much. Not sure what component of the test shows thyroid activity though.

Can't answer the ABN part, but at our age chest x-rays are an inexpensive way to check a lot of things apparently. Routine test, cancer or not for some docs.

As far as the eating, almost immediatly post-surgery the ent surgeons wanted me to start with the soft food, and harder food by the time I left the hospital. Also talking as much as I could, excersizing the shoulder, etc. They really don't want the scar tissue to start "freezing up" parts of the body. Maybe have Johnny to try smaller bites of harder food, then slowly larger, etc. I still take fairly small bites, mostly because of mouth sores, and it's hard to manipulate large amounts of food in the mouth when you're missing a chunk of tongue.

Bob