Larry, sounds like you are in good hands. The phlegm will continue to bother you as long as you are not able swallow your saliva. Your saliva will collect at the base of your throat, where it thickens and you will have to cough it up. Keeping your mouth moist by rinsing it with flat club soda or the magic mouthwash will help. The fluid collected in your lungs only because you were trying too hard to swallow. There being nowhere for it to go, whatever it was that you were trying to get down went down the wrong way. A lot of people carry spit cups around during their treatment, and, really, nobody notices.