Hi Jack,
In my case the side effects mostly occured at different times and there is not that many to begin with.

Food will taste like cardboard, or worse, for a while but not forever! I feel that the chemo also had a strong role in the taste issue.

Eric may develop mouth sores, but they will heal. I think that the mouth sore problem is somewhat dimished by IMRT. I was always able to swallow to some degree throughout treatment.

Eric should not suffer. They have pretty good pain management protocols these days, from topical swish and spit stuff to long term opioid 72 hr. time relief patches.

There is a high degree of probability that IMRT will spare 2 of the 3 salivary glands (probably not the one closest to the primary).

Constipation, which occurs mainly because of pain medication (also also diet) could be the worst complication actually. Maybe thrush.

He will have to micro manage these effects on his own, so he will have to be up to speed on cause, effect and mitgation/treatment. Is was very helpful anticipating what might happen and having the medications ready for it, like Candida for instance. I had very few "emergency" runs to the the pharmacy because I requested everything I needed ahead of time. I had(have) my own mini-pharmacy. It was somewhat comforting to be able to treat the side effects right away.

Radiation was very tough, never the less, and I am very grateful that I am through with it. I still have some lingering side effects but making small improvements every day. Today, most of these things are more of a nuisance or inconvenience than anything else. Some feel that radiation is tougher than surgery and I can understand their rationalization.

Some folks talk about trismus, but my understanding is that only about 5% have a problem with it. If you are able to stack three fingers in an open mouth, you don't have trismus.

I made it without a feeding tube. I lost about 60 lbs and probably would have healed a little faster if I didn't have the weight loss. In hindsite I probably should have gotten one. Today, 90 days out, I am eating anything I want, including things with mustard, salad dressing, cranberry juice, pizza (tomatoe sauce), Salsa, BBQ sauce, Cheetos, Doritos, Cokes, different cereals, etc. Did not having a feeding tube enhance my ability to swallow faster after treatment? - I don't know. By the way, I hate Ensure, Boost and all of those high energy protein things - they make me want to gag -but thats just me - others get by just fine on the stuff. I tolerated Carnation Instant Breakfast and thats as close as I came to it. For a long time it was all I could swallow.

Proton: There are a few here who have had proton treatment and hopefully they can chime in and add their comments on that technology.

My HMO has an Advice Nurse that I can call Mon-Fri from 9:00 to 5:00 which worked out very well. They would take the question to the doctor and call me back, usually always the same day, mostly within an hour with specific guidance or a called in prescription. They were terrific, compassionate, caring and extremely knowledgeable -a great system. I also used a book that my wife found called "Living Well With Cancer" by Katin Moore and that also helped a great deal.

One day at a time, one breath at a time...