Eating Again: A Physician's Personal Experience After Laryngectomy

Abstract

This article presents the author's personal experiences in eating again after becoming a laryngectomee. He was diagnosed with hypopharyngeal carcinoma and underwent total laryngectomy with a free flap reconstruction. The personal story is told in the hope that nutritionists and other health care providers will realize the difficult challenges in obtaining adequate nutrition that a patient diagnosed with cancer who undergoes laryngectomy must face. These include the effects of radiation treatment and surgery, which create functional and anatomical changes that make swallowing difficult.