Thanks Richie. Why is it that even though difficult, it appears that most people can swallow to some extent. Jim takes NOTHING mouth. He says that he can't. He used to try, but after the recurrence, he stopped trying completely. I didn't force the issue only because I really don't know all the trauma that is going on in his mouth. I guess it's just one day at a time, or one minute at a time. I may even be down to one second at a time......Claudia