Connie, I strongly support Christine’s suggestion that you request a barium swallow test.

My husband had the same grade of oropharyngeal cancer and the same amount of radiation. What happened In his case was that his esophagus became completely closed by scarring after treatment. The result was he could not even swallow a sip of water. It took us a while to clue in, although it might sound incredible. Whatever John attempted to swallow — it would initially appear to go down but a few hours later, he would throw it up again. I guess when he swallowed, the food appeared to have gone down, but it only went down as far as the blockage. Then, eventually, it got thrown up again. I remember that he was unable to eat even at 8 weeks post radiation. At about 12 weeks, he got his barium swallowing test. I was shown the video and it showed that even a sip of water would pool at the blockage and not go down. Even esophageal dilations would not have helped his case. (If you’re interested in what eventually happened, could I ask you to look up a response I made to Lisa F only two weeks ago.on this forum?)

You might want to discuss this with your doctors. I know it sometimes may sound as if the patient is recalcitrant, but it’s very hard to tell when throat pain during radiation treatment slowly morphs into a blocked esophagus. Your RO should be able to see the scarring during a scope, but the confirmation comes from he barium swallowing test.

I hope this is not the case with your husband as I have followed your journey as a caregiver and know you don’t really need any more complications. It may, however, explain his reluctance to eat anything.