Carol,

17 days out is about the worst of it. Sometime soon you will see slight signs of improvement. I started eating food right around the 21 day mark.

Now here is the hard part. You can not wait until no pain to start eating. He is going to have to start eating and soon. For me the mucous started to go away the same time I started eating. I dont konw if it was the act of eating that made it better, but the mucous went away. It's a guess, but I bet eating will improve his condition. Also get back on the ensure or boost orally. At that point I still had no taste but yuck. So it really did not matter what i was eating or drinking.

I also went to a speech doctor and did the barium swallow just to make sure that nothing was going down the wrong pipe. I went 2 times a week for 4 weeks. Sometimes having a doctor/Nurse can apply some positive motivation to get him to eat that you can not apply.

30 days out and I wanted the peg removed. It was that quick. The hardest part it the first bite. It sucks and hurts. However, each meal will hurt less.

At this point he is sick, tired, and everything hurts. The only thing that will make it better is eating and moving. My advice is call the RO and get an appointment to see a speech therapist.