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Hi all, I am new to the list. I am a daughter of a father who is in the secondary stages of Parkinsons. My father is 81 years old. He was officially diagnosed with Parkinsons about 6 years ago. So far medication seemed to have worked well until recently. Five months ago he went in for Knee replacement surgery. That was a success, but 5 days later they noticed a heart problem and he was rushed back for a quadurple bi-pass. That was a success. A few days later he was having pains and he was rushed back in for bowel problems and they had to do an Illeostomy. After the 3rd surgery he really seemed to go downhill and his Parkinsons seemed worse, mostly his "swallowing." He continued to lose alot of weight from choking on food and was finally put on a feeding tube. Then his kidneys started to fail and those were revived, but the salivary glands in his mouth dried up and an infection occurred. He had to have dead tissue removed in the roof of his mouth. He is still on the feeding tube and they do periodic swallowing tests on him, but he still has some choking. What are his chances of getting off the feeding tube and eating by mouth again? Cindy Olson Southern Methodist University