I have read research, from the RSS feed (though I couldn't tell you the date) that stated that there are swallowing muscle exercises that can be done during treatment that do not involve actually swallowing and that these exercises might help keep those swallowing muscles from atrophying. I did these exercises when I was unable to swallow much because I had a stricture and I was told later they probably did help me maintain my swallowing muscles. For those of you concerned that people who have too much pain to swallow and are using a PEG will have swallowing problems later, instead of talking about how they might become "dependent" or making scornful "jokes" at their expense, encourage them to get treatment from a knowledgable speech pathologist as soon as possible. If someone gets this treatment in a timely manner there should be no problems with permanent loss of swallowing function due to not using the muscles although, as Brian has stated very clearly, there may be other problems from radiation that cause problems. Unfortunately, those are less controllable and have NOTHING to do with using a PEG.

Nelie