supraglottic laryngectomy

I had a partial laryngectomy on August 9th during which all the cartilige in my larynx was removed. I still have my PEG tube, but I have learned to eat and drink just about everything in my normal diet. I learned a technique where I take a mouthful of food or drink, take a breath and hold it, swallow hard, and then cough. It works for me and I'm learning to do it with out annlying everyone with the cough. I feel I was lucky to find a speech therpist with experience with this type of problem. If you have questions about the therapist, shop around. I did and I'm glad I changed from the first person I met with. You might try a rehabilitation hospital in your area. My therapist actually coached me through meas with progressively more difficult foods. Now that I'm finishing with speech therapy for swallowing, I'm starting physical therapy to build strength in the muscles used for swallowing and to regain lost range of motion. This may be contributing factor to your husbands difficulty since is sounds like he lost considerable muscle tissue. My doctor told me that it would be a difficult thing to do and certainly everyone's situation is slightly different, but it can be done. If you wish to discuss further, feel free to contact me directly at jleider@ptd.net. Take care and good luck.