David- I guess it's tongue depressor they are putting in his mouth, so I don't think that should be causing any problems. I guess that keeps his tongue down during radiation. My sister started giving him clariton and that seems to have helped a tiny bit on reducing the swelling on his bottom tongue. We are scheduling a swallow study for him this week, even though the RO told him to start swallowing. He's such a chicken and stubborn on top of it!!! He has swallowed a sip of water and a sip of sprite but then got nervous because he hadn't cleared it with his doctor. Radiation # 9 tomorrow.