• A snack can consist of as little as one banana. You don’t have to eat five meals a day - small snacks will suffice. Try to eat quite often - 'graze' throughout the day. As soon as you can, (and your doctor says you can!) extend your diet and try to eat 'solid' foods. You have to re-train your digestive system after an oesophagectomy. This is rather like feeding a baby, gradually getting used to different foods. Most find that they make great improvements in time. Some of us are more or less 'normal' after a year or so. (Perhaps sooner- everyone varies in this.) • Popcorn is really easy to eat and swallow, but avoid the very sugary types as sugar promotes acid.You can make your own using a lidded pan, or there are now special microwave packs available in most supermarkets. • Toast is easier to eat than bread, which tends to stick. However, some may find that French bread is easier than English. • If you should find that some food is ‘stuck fast’ in your oesophagus, simply drink a small glass of any fizzy drink (e.g. lemonade or beer) as quickly as you can. This can be uncomfortable, but the resulting enormous burp will clear the blockage. Practise this with caution and don’t do it within eight weeks of surgery, and check with the hospital or your doctor first. • After eating, sit up straight, use cushions if necessary, for an hour or so. If you are experiencing great difficulties it might help to stand up or walk slowly around the room. Try to relax when eating - use soft music or a small glass of wine. Never eat when you are agitated. • Remember to chew, chew, chew. Much more so than most people. Use the built in food processor in your mouth, your teeth. This makes you a slow eater, but at least you will be ableto eat more of what you like.Your eating ability will gradually improve until you find you can eat many more things. Most people find that they can attain a near normal situation eventually. For a collection of recipes and ideas from oesophageal patients and carers in the UK and the USA click here.