Christine. Thank you for your informative post, lots of great ideas that I will take advantage of. I had my weekly meeting with radiation oncologist and told him about chewing problems. His response was that they had lots of “tools” to address pain but none to address “swelling”. Similar advice to yours -slow, focussed chewing. I have a feeling that as the side effects of radiation continue to close in that I am nearing the end of my chewing days.

I like your suggestions on recording food and meds. My intake from here on in is likely to be a combination of soup, smoothies, blended foods and supplements (ensure). I’m hoping I can swallow it for as long as possible but have the tube ready to take over when needed (at your suggestion I might add).

I have a prescription for “magic mouthwash” that I picked up a few days ago. I tried it once to get a better sense of how it was going to help. Haven’t needed it yet, but I will heed your warning on not swallowing (my prescription says to swallow). I met the hospital nutritionist last week. She is on board with my plan and arranged for insurance to cover the cost of iprotein and the 6 servings a day I will need when it comes to that.

Other than that, I plan on taking advantage of the nice weather forecast for this weekend in Toronto, and get outside for some golf before the side effects turn me into a basket case.

Thanks again to everyone for all the advice, I’m sure it is helping me get through this difficult time.

Barry