Dan saw his ENT today for his 2 month appt. Looked down his throat etc like normal, then pulled his tongue out and took the mirror/scope whatever and looked at the left side of his tongue, did this three times, used new gauze and kept cleaning his mirror, finally felt back on his tongue with one hand and the other hand on the outside under his jaw.....Dan said it scared the crap out of him. Finally he said "You are fine" Couldn't tell if he saw something, so that is why he looked 3 times and did the feely thing.
Goes back in 2 months.
What was he looking for??
Sherrie

Not to worry, Sherrie. I saw both my docs yesterday and they both did similiar things, as they always do. Just being careful, I think. I am incredibly pleased that they pay so much attention to me and don't just dismiss me because I bounce in there saying how great I feel. Seriously, do not look for trouble where there is none. Enjoy today, look forward to tomorrow. If there is a problem, you will hear about it soon enough, so just let it come to you, and don't waste any time worrying in advance. Oops! Don't mean to preach. Just know that what your husband experienced is well within the bounds of ordinary and normal.
Joanna

Sherrie,
I know just how you feel. My husband had stage IV SSC of tonsil, finished treatment 7-00, and each time we go back if they take longer than what we think is normal, or look like they might feel or see something, both our hearts drop. One time the Dr thought he felt something, called back to radiology to re-read the cat scan, then had us wait, yikes! Came back in and said, no, they don't see anything, go back to Mississippi! Needless to say in three months when it was time for our check up we were even more nervous. I guess with time this anxiety we seem to get about two weeks prior to each check up will get better, hopefully!
Julie

Julie, Sorry to say it doesn't get any easier as time goes on. However, when they do tell you that everything looks good each time you go for a check-up, you feel like you have been lifted to the top of the world. That is a wonderful feeling.
David

I have found my experiences to be the same. The slightest hesitation or comment by the Doc and the imagination runs wild. I have found it better to just ask the Doc when ever that happens. It is possible it was simply that his mirror was fogging up. For the Doc it is absolutly nothing, for us it is days of worry. So if something a little unusual happens, Tell them how you feel right away.

On the subject of check-ups, I'd like to get an idea of how often other people are getting scans done...CT or MRI. My husband had a follow-up appointment with his ENT last week, did the scope, everything looked okay. But then when I asked when he'd be ordering the first post-treatment scan, he said that he won't do any for a year - and then just a lung x-ray or CT. He said that scans aren't cost effective. I know the oncologist would like to see scans, bloodwork more often. I'm a little confused. We don't want to go overboard with tests too often (and the anxiety that could be associated with them), but think there must be a happy medium.

Thanks,
Anita

Hi Anita,
My husband had his neck dissection on July 31, 2001, Radiation/Chemo finished up Oct 2001 and had his first Head scan ordered by his oncologist (against his ENTs wishes) in Dec 2001 His ENT said with it being so soon after surgery alot of that is scar tissue and a follow up scan that shows something will different will just be healing and not new cancer. He had his first Chest scan 5 months after Rad/Chemo in March 2002
then one August 2002 and again Feb of this year.

Good Luck
Sherrie

Anita, I had quarterly CT scans and blood work drawn for my Oncologist appt for four years straight. Fifth year I finally got down to just a chest xray and blood work drawn. My ENT prefers that I seem every four months for a complete checkup. And if anything goes wrong in between those times I see my Internist. Thankfully I have been fairly healthy! I get so tired of Doc and Dentist appointmets, but still, a small price to pay for a happy life. Sincerely, Donna

Hi Anita,
It will be exactly 60 days tomorrow since my treatment ended. Since that time, I have had an MRI (which the Omcologist ordered), 2 blood tests, a visit with the Oncologist (2 weeks post treatment), a visit with the Head and Neck surgeon, a visit with the Radiation Oncologist and tomorrow with the Oncologist. The Head and Neck surgeon informed me he will be seeing me every 2 months for the next 2 years. No one has "scoped" me yet. The Radiation Oncologist shoved her hand down my throat, got along both sides of my tongue and it hurt like hell. She was unhappy that my thrush was not in control yet in spite of the fact I take 200mg of Diflucan a day and won't release me. I have to see her again in 6 weeks. But at least they're checking. I sure and grateful I have an HMO that covers everything.

Donna and Gary,
Any idea what they look for in the blood tests? My husband has had a couple of blood tests since treatment, but only because of the pneumonia that he had 2 weeks out from treatment. He is seeing the ENT and radiation oncologist every month.

Thanks,
Anita

Anita.......The blood work being done is to look for cancer markers that identify if something is wacky in the body....cancer. I think. I forgot to mention that I also saw my RAD oncologist every quarter for about a year after i finished treatment. I was more than happy the day my oncologist gave me the six month check up routine. It put my life on a more even keel not having to worry about the CT scans ect. It felt like I'd just get over one CT scan, have a week or two without worry and then it was time again for the next quarterly scan. Three months goes by quickly; six months is a bit more doable in terms of anxiety and worry. Sincerely, Donna

In my case the blood work was to look at white and red cell counts see look for anemia and how my immune system is doing.

Treatment related blood work is one issue...as various poisons, (radiation and chemotherapy), alter our bodies in negative ways. A look at your blood is a look at the physical system overall, and how well it is tolerating the treatment. This type of blood work has little to do with disease. Then there are tests which identify infectious agents, or the process of immune response to infections, both viral and bacterial. These either find the agent itself or show irregular proportions of the normal elements of the blood, the most obvious being white cells and other macrophages, which indicate that an immune response to something is going on. What that response is to, isn't specific, but that something is happening and your body is responding to it, is something that becomes evident, by looking at the balance of normally occurring elements of the blood. But in the realm of cancers, they are usually looking for tumor-associated antigens, or tumor specific antigens (TSA's). Some TSA