Not to dispute your doctor, but in my case I was able to swallow fine after removal of the tube. The trick is to keep trying to swallow small portions of water, food, or even nothing, if possible, when the tube is in place. Honesty, I ended up going into the hospital for a week because I was malnourished before the feeding tube was installed. If you can keep enough food down, then maybe you don’t need it, but if you can’t, I’d definitely consider it.