Have to agree that most will have their own unique experience and essentially find out along the way as things progress. I had 2 surgeries and 25 radiation treatments. Took about a month after 2nd surgery to start sipping tiny bits (and I mean tiniest of tiny sips) of liquid and I asked to have my feeding tube removed. Forced myself to get nutrition via nutrition drinks. I was gradually able to increase my sipping to where I could drink a small nutrition drink in one hour….then kept progressing from there.

I found vanilla flavored nutrition drinks were tolerable, but other flavors were awful for the first few months. It took me about 2 months to find other drinks or flavors that I would enjoy and/or tolerate.

I’m now 9 months out from 2nd surgery, and 7 months out from radiation.

Drinking is functionally back to normal, but still not back to normal as far as what I can drink. Many things irritate my throat or are outright painful to drink. Carbonated drinks or anything spicey are the worst. Fortunately, taste is back to normal for most drinks, and I’m back to enjoying my morning coffee.

Eating was much more of a challenge than drinking. Food taste was awlful for most foods for almost 3 months. I gradually introduced soups into my diet. Egg drop soup was my go-to for a couple weeks. I had to experiment to see which other soups I could swallow, and also see which ones I could taste or at least tolerate. From soups I moved on to really runny eggs. I found from the egg drop soup that I could start tasting the eggs, so figured I’d try eggs. Success. For about a month I was eating my runny eggs and enjoying them. From there I did trial and error to see what I could swallow and/or taste. Most foods would get stuck in my throat, so moving on took quite a bit of time and experimenting. Even to this day, eating is not really enjoyable any more. I can taste a lot, but swallowing is a challenge, and that makes eating a chore as opposed to an enjoyable experience. Meats have almost no taste to me, so I can’t enjoy a good burger or steak like I used to. Maybe that’s good as far as overall health. Food still gets stuck in my throat, but I’m using that as exercise to improve my swallowing. I try not to use liquids to “wash down” food. I want my swallowing muscles to get stronger, so I make them work to get the job done. Many coughing and choking moments, but I’ve just accepted that as my new normal fit now.

So, that says a lot…a new normal. Eating and drinking is nowhere near what it used to be, but I’ve adapted and accepted it as my new normal, and hope for at least a bit of improvement still to come. I think of it as a character builder and learning experience. Living and staying alive isn’t guaranteed. I figure I’m fortunate to be alive and enjoying most parts of life again, even though eating and drinking aren’t part of the enjoyment.