Patient Advocate (old timer, 2000 posts) Joined: Dec 2003 Posts: 2,606 Likes: 2 | Jobeeg,
As Erik points out, eating is no different than any other physical therapy to regain muscle control. Not trying is synonymous to "use it or lose it". I eat a lot of spaghetti noodles and could even tolerate Ragu and stuff like that even though it is acidic. I struggled with Cream of Wheat, oatmeal, etc., and coughed and choked. I drank a lot of whole milk because it was thicker and because it had a bit more calories. It took about a year before I could drink more than a sip of anything and now can pretty much gulp several times. I cook my steaks more rare because they are a bit easier to swallow and yesterday I ate some pretty dry fried chicken with a little difficulty until I could gulp down some water.
Another thing I learned that helped was to take a good breath before I tried to swallow. I then closed off my airway until the food was completely down. At first, it would get stuck in my throat and I would either gulp for air and start coughing or my body would create a sneeze reflex and it would go across the room.
Tell your mother to keep swallowing stuff just for excercise if nothing else. There are some devices on the website for stretching the mouth muscles.
Ed
SCC Stage IV, BOT, T2N2bM0 Cisplatin/5FU x 3, 40 days radiation Diagnosis 07/21/03 tx completed 10/08/03 Post Radiation Lower Motor Neuron Syndrome 3/08. Cervical Spinal Stenosis 01/11 Cervical Myelitis 09/12 Thoracic Paraplegia 10/12 Dysautonomia 11/12 Hospice care 09/12-01/13. COPD 01/14 Intermittent CHF 6/15 Feeding tube NPO 03/16 VFI 12/2016 ORN 12/2017 Cardiac Event 06/2018 Bilateral VFI 01/2021 Thoracotomy Bilobectomy 01/2022 Bilateral VFI 05/2022 Total Laryngectomy 01/2023
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