I have been told recently by both a speech therapist and my surgeon, Dr Haakenslash, that I may be dependent on my PEG for nutrition indefinitely, depending on what everything looks like when the area is healed and the swelling goes down. It is all healing very slowly. Very glad I insisted on the 20 French PEG prior to my most recent surgery!

The basic problem is that the flap replacing the total glossectomy is merely filler and has no nerves or muscular movement (except for the tiny portion of original tongue left remaining), so it can't assist in the swallowing process. Here's an animation showing that:

http://hopkins-gi.org/multimedia/database/intro_250_Swallow.swf

Click on the 'Play' icon, then on 'Normal Swallow w/explanation'.

In my case, it's even worse because the flap portion in my mouth (aka mobile tongue) died, so I don't even have the filler there.