Tami, That last question gets right at why I ended up with a completely closed area of stricture too. It was closed in July when I had surgery but back last Christmas I was swallowing enough that there was way more room there I think. The reason it took so long for me is on the first barium swallow I had done locally (last November), the radiologist looking at it and the speech pathologist both MISSED the three areas of stricture (they were painly visible--another speech pathologist pointed them out to me later). If they had caught it then (last November)I could have had a dilation, not the much more complicated surgery I had. On the other hand, I also was not nearly as healed otherwise from radiation at that point and there may have been some issues with that.

I assume your Mom was the same--she was eating stuff with some difficulty before she became completely closed up? I think for some people (liek me) it gets worse gradually but for others the esophagus can become completely closed right after radiation....