Tuesday March 20, 2007 8:03 PM

Well, there's good news and bad news today.

I went to talk to Dr. Jewell today. The entire 10th cranial nerve is now out of service, but he said not to worry about bowel function or heart function...there's enough other nerves going to those organs to make up for the loss of the contribution of this 10th nerve.

Jim also went for his barium swallow test. He passed as far as larynx function goes, but his problem is the muscles that push the food toward his esophagus. He did o.k. with this before his third surgery, but now those muscles need work. If he eats anything viscous like pudding or ice cream or any solid food, it would pool in the back of his throat because he doesn't have the muscle power to push it down, so he's in danger of aspirating the food when he breathes- not because the laynx won't close. So the suggestion was made to take the feeding tube out of his nose, and install a feeding tube directly into his stomach. Then he needs to go for several weeks (perhaps six- that seems to be the average) of special therapy to stimulate and work on those muscles. Centers that do this therapy are near our house. He'll have to go home with the feeding tube in his stomach. They feel he'll heal better at home anyway.

I asked Jim how he felt about this. You'll remember back when this started he told me he'd rather have me put a bullet in his head than go home with a feeding tube. But he told me now that they managed to get this big ass tumor out of his neck, and he's still alive, so he'll accept the feeding tube. And they don't expect it to be permanent, so he'll just have to do his therapy and hope one day he can have a pizza.

So they're putting the tube in tomorrow. All of the nurses here say that he'll find it to be pretty comfortable. The only bad thing is this liquid stuff doesn't satisfy your hunger, so I feel bad for him, but what else can we do? We've just got to go with the flow. At least he can get out of that place and have a real shower. And we can get back home.

In the meantime, the therapist let him practice his swallowing technique with Italian Ice, so at least he got to enjoy SOMETHING. But since he can't take in enough food by mouth right now he won't be strong enough to heal properly.