Hey Charm -

I started my speech / swalling therapy a week after I got out of the hospital. I would have actually started sooner (if that is possible) but we hit an insurance snag and had to wait until it was resolved. I had the barium swallow study done at my second session - basically they give you different things dipped in barium and tell you to eat it (water, applesauce, a cracker, etc)and after that I was able to start eating by mouth - the test was pretty neat and I eventually got to watch it because they recorded it. They would not let me eat anything by mouth until they did the swallow study to make sure I wasn't aspirating without knowing it. They wanted me to take it easy at first with eating and stuff because of the stitches for the flap. It didn't take too long to start swallowing after the surgery, but I was only able to work up to pastas and some fish before the radiation side effects kicked in! The hardest part is getting used to how your tongue works after the surgery and relearning how to maneuver food around - you look pretty crazy for a while. So, hope this helps.