Barb,

If he is having this much trouble eating then he should perhaps be re-evaluated by the speech/swallowing therapist. After the swallowing test (was this a fluoroscopic barium swallowing test?) the therapist should have given him some exercises to do to strengthen his swallowing muscle bundles, tongue etc. No one, even if they ate all the way through treatment like my husband, gets through this treatment unscathed. Barry was given about 8 exercises after his swallowing evaluation (which was done about 6 weeks out of treatment) and he did them religiously, they really helped -- not only in preventing aspiration of food or liquid, which has a real risk of pneumonia, but also enabled him to start eating more "normal" foods and to start moving away from a reliance on things like soft scrambled eggs, cream soups and shakes.

If swallowing is too painful, then his pain medications may need to be re-evaluated as well. My husband used the Duragesic patch for two months after end of treatment, gradually sequeing from 25 mcg to 12 and then off, and some folks have needed this help even longer. Pain should not be the barrier to eating -- however the cause of pain can involve lingering sores and ulcers, strictures or even thrush so this needs to be looked into as well. Mucositis should be starting to heal within a month but may be exacerbated by thrush -- use lots of salt/soda rinses and try products such as Rincinol (over-the-counter) or Gel-Clare, it's prescription counterpart, to coat the mouth. Ulcer Ease also can help.

Adequate food is important in healing and also, in regaining a feeling of control so it really important to encourage him to try to eat, but don't bully him.

As an aside, some folks find very cold things such as ice cream as well as hot foods hard to swallow, literally -- not everyone has the same issues, some people eat ice cream from almost day one. Experiment with various things like custard (real custard made with eggs and milk), pureed soups etc. Seafood soups for some reason (maybe because they are salty) are more palatable to many when first coming out of treatment -- I used to make a cream of crab soup and puree it for my husband. It was popular!

Gail