@cskippy Hi Connie, seems you might both have same issue. Regarding nerve damage: Prior to surgery, the surgeon mentioned he might have issues with left arm (great: Richard is left-handed!) They removed all lymph nodes. Didn't happen right away, but yes, his shoulder is much lower on the left side and he's going to physical therapy twice weekly to try and rebuild the muscle which I hope is still there. The exercises seem to help but taking a long time. This flap surgery seems really difficult, and I think sometimes fails from what I have read. We are FL. There is a surgeon in Ohio who seems to be an expert and maybe the right person for this round... Not sure where you are located. We were not warned of this swallowing issue which scares me as you say, we don't want it to leak into the lungs...