Welcome to OCF! Im glad you found our site to help you with your father. Stick with us and we will give you both info and support.

Everyone reacts slightly different with procedures, recovery, treatment responses etc. Some patients will bounce right back after such an invasive surgery while others take months to recover. We have seen both happen around here.

The swallowing function is something that can quickly fail. After not being used for a few days/weeks many patients will struggle to swallow again. The muscles simply "forget" how to function normally. To me it sounds like you have a very competent speech therapist working with your father. She did the best thing to test his swallowing ability to see where he was at. The barium swallow test can always be redone to check his capabilities. If he is choking he can get liquids or worse, food in his lungs thru aspirating when trying to swallow. This can cause even bigger problems with infections.

Sounds to me like this will be a long road for everyone. Many patients get frustrated at their view of not recovering fast enough. Many patients will need anxiety meds to get thru their treatments and recovery. Even many caregivers need meds to help them as well. Battling OC is not easy, it can be full of ups and downs with setbacks too.

The best advice I can offer you is to focus on what is controllable... his intake. Every single day he should be taking in at least 2500 calories and 48-64 oz of water. I know it sounds like alot but he needs to rebuild himself from surgery and get ready for rads. During rads he may struggle to take in enough. Glad the feeding tube is already being used. Its a great tool to help make it easier to get thru rads and move on to the recovery phase.

Best wishes with everything!