About 4 years ago, dad had throat cancer near vocal cords.
During first doctor visits to get diagnosed it didn't seem to bad except maybe a cold.

Two to three months later was told it was stage 4 and getting into lymp nodes. Radiation and chemo was done. All was ok for about 5 months.

Then suddenly the throat closed up and couldn't breathe and went to the ER to get emergency surgery to make a stoma in his neck to breathe. At first it was very heavy mucus and needed suction a lot.

Now it's been about 3-5 years since the surgery.
But there's still a big problem.

The epiglottis flap is damaged so doesn't work right to eat or drink.
Thin liquids, juice, water, fruit juices, little foods like rice, peas, things that crumble or are dry, and other things cannot be eaten. That isn't the worst of the problem, but it still sucks only being able to eat certain things. But the wrong foods get aspirated and he coughes so much when they try to go down his airway.

The worse part is when he gets mucus built up and has a hard time coughing it up and it gets thick. He gets red and gasps for air and almost choking to cough out the mucus. After a while it either comes out or has to be sectioned. I'm not sure if it's the dry air that causes it when he it outside, but it can happen inside too. He gets daily humidity breathing treatments over it and only suction as needed.

Can anyone give advice on how to prevent the mucus?
Does anyone choke on it and feel like gasping and can't breathe and hard time getting it out?

Does he need to wear a device to moisten the air over the stoma more? But that's not comfortable to wear a lot tho and can't talk with it. Can he? Isn't that type only for humidity?


And he has said when he wears it, he can't get much air in with a talking valve (the one used to not have to cover the stoma with finger to talk).

Would a total laryngectomy fix the aspiration and epiglottis problem?
He never wants to get that done.

Can anyone give advice on this?
Seeing him choking on mucus and trouble coughing it up is the worse.