Originally Posted by Spoiler

Today was a busy one.... my wife had to have her radiation treatment at 7am so she could get home so we could drive to my appointments at UF/Shands in Gainesville.

The main thing I had to do today was take the swallow test. As expected, I failed. They think there is still swelling from the 3 surgeries that I had. Rescheduled again for about 3 weeks from now. Once I pass, they will tell me to start trying to eat soft food and eventually work up to more difficult stuff. Eventually this will lead to my feeding tube being removed which of course is the goal.

My problem is that they had to basically fillet my left chest and take all of that mass and move it up my front and stuff it through and into my throat to allow it to be my new windpipe flap. While the plan worked, it was quite a thick chunk to rearrange on me. That is the part that is still swelled up inside me.

Bottom line is that I feel great, and am progressing still. Because of today’s swallow test though, there will be NO deep throating yet....

Attached is a picture of what they did to me in the third surgery