Gail,
I hope that this isn't true for Barry, but in my case and also for many others, the hardest part began when treatment ended. I rang the bell and headed for home, delighted that the radiation was over. However for the first time during my treatment I got depressed, and, along with feeling lousy,there was also a feeling of hopelessness. When you go in for treatment every day one feels like you are being pro-active and you are interacting with people working to heal you. Once I got home I just felt like there were a lot of hours in the day and nothing to look forward to but the next tube feeding.
The good news was that I found ways to cope and began to feel much better as things steadily, if gradually, improved.

I think it is great that the two of you are so well-informed and that Barry came to treatment with such an active, healthy life-style. In my case one of the ironies is: now that my swallowing finally seems to have really improved, many of the foods that I find easy to eat are not particularly healthy, like steaks, fried shrimp, mexican food,lasagna, french fries, etc. but at least I no longer need the milkshakes that I used to drink a couple of times a day for sustenance. Of course certain vegetables are easy to eat as well.
Best of luck with this new phase.

Danny G.