Thanks Danny,

I'm getting very encouraged from the stories here. I worry that I've gone so long without swallowing normally (about a year now) that it will be too little too late. I'm VERY happy to hear the dilation itself was no big deal since I'm really a coward about more uncomfortable surgery, and it's also encouraging to me to hear you are back to eating "almost like a normal person". Yeah, it's the issue about wanting to able to travel freely and eat with other people without having to explain why I can't eat normally. Both the social aspect of eating and travel are important parts of my life and having them disrupted is a definite quakity of life issue.

Right now I have dreams about eating things like pizza and pot roast and I am SO hoping that this won't be in the dream realm forever. The way I feel right now is if I HAVE to accept this as a lifelong disability, I can and I'll still enjoy my life. But I WON'T accept it as lifelong until I know I've done everything I can to get back as much swallowing ability as much as possible.

Nelie