A couple of things come to mind. I see that Noel has had a stroke. Joe just had a stroke, and although it didn't have too many bad aftereffects, he did have dysphagia, where he could choke on food that was in too large pieces or food that could break up easily in the act of swallowing, such as rice. He is technically on a dysphagia diet which means food that are soft and moist and meat that is in small pieces. He was instructed to sit up at a 90 degree angle while swallowing and to pay good attention while he was eating, no heavy duty talking or distractions such as TV. Just concentrate on what he was doing. I guess his was caused by weak throat muscles, however, he does have vocal cords which do not meet due to some nerve damage from many intubations. There are exercises to improve that portion of his problem, which include making sounds in various pitches to get the cords working again.
Another thing that was a direct result of valve problems was congestive heart failure which backed up into his liver and spleen and stomach area (ascites) this causes excess pressure and enlargement in the neck veins, and you can even see them throbbing and enlarged when his fluid is way too high. And that caused swallowing problems as well. So keeping him without edema is the way to go in this case.
I have had to give him the Heimlich maneuver several times in the past because he was choking on larger pieces of food.
Maybe another visit to an ENT doctor to discuss his swallowing problems would be in order. In the hospital, the gal who specialized in voice and swallowing problems after strokes (Speech Therapist) was most helpful.
I wouldn't want him to have another choking incident, they can be scary, not to mention dangerous. If food aspirates into the lungs, then pneumonia could follow, and of course, choking on food can be disastrous.
Good luck, hope it can be helped.
