Hello, Aimee. Let me give you my take on the worry part of this. For a stage 4 tumor with mets to nodes, I had surgery including a trach, chemo and rad. That was four years ago. I decided going in that the cancer was just another life challenge. I recovered and am having a fine time. I go to all follow up appts., lead a healthy lifestyle, and figure I will have the best time I can. That way if there is a recurrence, or even another unrelated cancer, I will not have wasted any of my time being worried. Bottom line, life is way too short to worry about what we cannot control or know. Take a deep breath and remember that there are many of us out here who have survived. Read Cathy's post about celebrating her 17th year since treatment.

If and when you need rad is the time to gather information. Treatment protocols change rapidly, so what you learn now may not be current if you need treatment at a later date. You can always come back here and get a wealth of information.

Finally, congratulations on your rapid recovery. I suspect when you have a good CT behind you, your anxiety will lessen greatly.

Aimee,

I was stage II, had clean margins, but had some aggressive aspects to my tumor, and at first I was told I did not need radiation. I went for a second opinion at a leading CCC (partly at the urging of folks ehre) and they said I did need rad--and gave me some good arguments why. So I just want to second the suggestion that you get another opinion at a CCC--and have them look at your path slides again too--mainly because if that opinion also says you don't need radiation, I think you could rest a little easier (of course that's what I was hoping I'd hear from my second opinion and instead, I ended up having rad but I have no regrets that I took the most aggressive treatment after learning what I learned from that opinion).

As for my experience with radiation (I chose to be extra aggressive and have chemo too), it was not as good as some others here although that partly may be because I elected to get my treatment at a brand new facility, so I'm not going to get into that, except to say that at this point I really don't worry too much about recurrence. I know I did absolutely everything I could and if it happens, it happens. I don't want to waste any of the good time I have today worrying.....

Nelie

Thanks all for your well wishes, advice, and input. I'm less anxious than I was last week (which is a very good thing), but I don't think I'll be really happy until I get good results from my upcoming appointment and CT scan.

My doctor has been conservative, scheduling me for this appointment only 2 months after my post-op. He is an ENT surgeon at the Huntsman Cancer Hospital. (Despite the fact that I was recovering from surgery, I was really impressed with the facility. There are only 50 private rooms there, so I had great support from the nurses, respiratory therapists, and staff. ) I will ask about the radiation when I go in again, but so far my doctor has been spot on about everything. I think the fear of reoccurrence (and then the radiation) has been the biggest factor for me.

I appreciate all of the reminders not to get or let my doctors get too complacent about my cancer. I realize the seriousness of it and am so grateful that it was caught as early as it was. I had a sore on my tongue that really hurt and went to an general MD, ENT, Dentist, and then finally an Oral Surgeon. The Oral Surgeon did the biopsy in his office and then had me into the oncologist the day after my positive results came back. If I could push my way through that, I can keep vigilant now.

Thanks again to all of you! --Aimee