Hi Mike, its been a long time since ive seen any messages from you .I hope that you are doing well. I responded to one of your messages to me on the throat cancer site , but havent heard back from you , ( or have seen any responses to anyone else in a long while. ) I hope that this means that you are doing well with your classes and that you are getting back to a more out going way of life that its hard to get on the computer. As for me my g-tube came out 6/4/09 , i have been on soft foods and liquid nutrients since. I go back to my ent tomorrow to see what the next step with my trek will be. The precedure i had done on 5/27/09 seemed to have worked ( where they lazered my airway to widen it and unblock my vocal cords so i could talk and breath again ,so far so good ) I have been able to keep my pasy valve on all day now , where before the precedure i wasnt able to keep it on for more than 5 mins. at a time without losing my breath. So im thinking that its healing right this time , (fingers crossed ) On 6/29/09 i will be seeing a speech therpist ,shes gonna do a berrium swallow test to make sure everything is going down the right way . Then if that goes well she will get together with my dietician to ween me off of the liquid nutrients and start adding normal food to my diet,from what i understand they will have to teach me how to swallow right so that food doesnt go down into my lungs.Anyway enough about me , if you get this i would sure like to hear from you to see how you are doing .,and im sure others on these sites would also like to know how your doing . until i hear from you again my friend GOD BLESS YOU AND YOURS and to EVERYONE ELSE GOD BLESS AND KEEP THE FAITH............JR449 (JEWELL)