Many, but not all, people who have the feeding tube for months or years are able to return to swallowing.  Ask your doctor to find out what the likely scenario is for you.  If you are likely to return to swallowing after chemotherapy for head and neck cancer, there are some things you can do to make your life easier.

1.  I've heard from several people that continuing to swallow even a small amount during treatment can help keep your swallowing muscles from atrophying and will make eating by mouth easier later on.

2. Studies have shown that beginning swallowing exercises prior to chemotherapy treatment can be helpful.  If possible, set an appointment to meet with your speech therapist in advance of your surgery or chemotherapy and ask for some exercises to maintain the strength of your swallowing muscles while you are using a feeding tube.

3. Take the time to understand swallowing after your treatment and before learning to swallow again.  Here is one article: http://www.aafp.org/20000415/2453.html (search under swallowing).

When you begin swallowing again, we found that using the blender is the most efficient way to prepare food and smoothies.  The banana has become our most important thickener for liquids and we are using bananas and other fruits and vegetable pureed in the blender rather than buying thickening packets such as "Thick-it".  This works just as well.

Foods swallowing during this phase don't need to be as finely pureed as in the feeding tube stage so the blender is easier and more efficient. 

For meals here are some common foods that we find work well:

• Shepard's Pie
• Lasagna
• Soft Boiled Eggs (easier and faster to eat than scrambled eggs at this point)
• Anything with white sauce (bechamel) on it such as creamed turkey
• Mashed potatoes and anything
• Oatmeal
• Yaki Soba noodles found in refrigerated Asian foods area in supermarkets
• Yogurt
• Ice cream or soy cream
• Chow mein and other Chinese foods
• Steak takes too long to chew but ground beef seems to be great
• Any moist fish
• Rice

You'll come up with plenty of other foods, they just have to be fairly easy to chew and have some moistness or gravy.

And for drinking, my finace was thrilled to switch to smoothies. Combinations for nectar consistency that we like include:

• bananas and dates with vanilaa (the favorite)
• bananas and strawberries
• all berries and creme
• superfood drink plus banana for thickness
• frozen mango and mango juice

During this phase we switched from the food processor and blender to a hand held blender. It's so much easier to clean and we no  longer need to process the foods as finely as we did with the tube.

Eating in restaurants is possible too as long as we can either order or bring in our own smoothies.  We carry them in a cooler bag in the twist top containers, ask for an empty glass and just pour them into the drink. If you're lucky, you'll locate restaurants that can make the right smoothies for you if you like.  You'll have to tell them the exact ingredients and proportions though.

Happy eating!