Hello. I had tonsil cancer in 2008. 33 radiation and 6 chemo. I cannot recall how long it took me to "get back to normal" with regard to eating. But for about 10 years I was pretty much able to eat normally although dry mouth was always an issue.

Somewhere around year 10 I started with swallowing episodes. Not choking, but things getting caught in my throat. I'd go off with a glass of water, sip and cough the food out. My surgeon said it was failure of the soft pallet in my case. I've learned to chew and drink more when eating. I also determined, that in my case, eating (swallowing) and talking are "opposing forces". Meal time can be fairly quiet (perhaps my understanding wife likes that LOL).

I can pretty much eat anything if I am careful although I typically avoid rice which is especially troublesome. I also seem to do better at lunch vs dinner (fatigue as the day goes on?).

Note we are all different with regard to what side effects hit us and when, However, swallowing issues, dry mouth and fibrosis seem to catch up with all of us. Given that, I attached papers which describe swallowing and neck exercises I do every day. I would have started these right after treatments had I known the long term side effect issues.

Hope this helps.