Swallowing after 7 wks head and neck radiation

Hi @bri3sd Welcome to our Head and Neck group.
Swallowing likely will be a challenge for months. My experience is it either gets easier or we just get used to the difficulties.
There are roughly fifty muscles involved with a simple swallow. Many of those muscles were radiated and have stiffness as a result. In addition, likely he suffers from dry mouth, a common occurrence again from being zapped.
Radiation recovery is similar to a serious burn recovery, months if not years, years if not ever. The scars (internal) may never completely go away.
I had to learn how to eat again. And not just how, what. Some foods are off the list as they cannot be easily swallowed. I am the last one finished at the table, small bits, lots of chewing, plenty of liquids to chase.
Your husband can also seek swallowing therapy, yes, it’s a thing. Are there specific foods difficult to swallow?

I believe William Olsen remarks before me are spot on. It will take months for the salvia glands to start functioning , Throat pain to ease, and swallowing to become somewhat normal . I took pain meds or Tylenol BEFORE I ate and timed them with my meal. I lost about 25 pounds before I started putting weight back on roughly 2 months after radiation finished. The first month was rough trying to eat. My guess is it was 8 weeks before I could eat fairly well without some pain although it still was soft items. Hang in there and keep eating what you can even if it is soft eggs, soups, mashed potatoes, cottage cheese , etc. It will SLOWLY get better and then no need for the pain meds. Today 18 months out I am about 90% back to my normal swallowing without any pain. Good luck . It does slowly get better.

I believe most people who experienced SCC in the HAead and Neck regioned who has radiation experienced difficulty swallowing. I know I did. I wrote a list of soft foods to try - yogurt, grits, cream of wheat, eggs, ice cream, applesauce, etc. and cycled through them. If I could swallow them, I ate a lot of them. If I couldn't, I would drop them to bottom of list and try them later.

Good luck!

Thank you for relating your swallowing experience. Much appreciated. Do your comments regarding pain when swallowing also include an inability to taste what you swallowed?

I am 15 months post surgery. My experience has been that pain decreases and swallowing improves. Dry mouth is a challenge. I still have some challenges but I'm learning to handle them. I find that if I drink warm decaf tea or coffee with my food I can swallow better than cold drinks. The swelling and lymphedema comes and goes. If I keep up with my self massage and stretching and swallowing exercises it helps. Early on I used a squeeze of fresh lemon in my water to stimulate my taste buds. I also touched a piece of homemade dill pickle to my tongue to stimulate saliva every day. Even before I could chew and swallow it. At 15 months,my saliva is much improved.

So healing happens. Improvements will come. Sometimes so slowly you won't even notice at first. But you will be able to look back at times that you could not do something you can do now.

If I were looking for a new career I would hire out to local restaurants. Several otherwise good restaurants need counseling on what makes a decent soup! For crying out loud!

Tell your husband to hang in there. In the mean time Pinterest has several recipes on making tapioca pudding from scratch in a crockpot. That and a cup of cocoa makes a wonderful treat on a cold winter day.

I agree with all the recent posts above. Swallowing will definitely be an issue but the degree can vary for each of us. For me, I'm 7 months post 35 radiation sessions/chemo and my swallowing just this week took a turn for the better. Yay!! I've been living on soups, shakes etc. but I can now eat many more foods as long as I wash everything down which is fine with me. Hang in there, it's all about time and it will get better

He hasn't swallowed food yet. Still using peg tube. Swallowing water is still a struggle and says his throat is raw and still hurts something aweful. I can't imagine.

Thank you

Thank you

Thank you. Good luck to you