Thanks Kris, you give me great hope with my swallowing. My problem is just as you describe, food getting stuck on a shelf, and my muscles not being strong enough to force food down so I have to cough it back up, unless it is soft and slippy. I am 22 months out from treatment and have had very little improvement for many months so I was beginning to accept that it probably wont get much better. Then at my last checkup earlier this month a new doctor told me that there was no reason why I should not improve providing I exercise the muscles and force the food a bit (he was the first doc to tell me this!). So since then I have made more effort and I think there may be a slight improvement already. I realise that I have got into habits of eating only easy stuff, so not making the swallow muscles work. I think early on I got so disheartened it was easier to avoid the upset. Swallowing boot camps should be available for all!



Dx 10/11 51yrs LBOT Stage 4 2nodes HPV16+. Non-smoker mod alcohol.
10/11 Induction chemox2 (Docetaxel, 5-Flu, Cisplatin) then Cisplatinx2 IMRTx30. Ended 01/13/12.
12/07/11 RIG. RIG removed 05/05/12.
4/12 CT scan clear. Visual scope checks clear as of 10/13. Learning to live with eating challenges.