Hello vickie and welcome to this very helpful site and club that we all find ourselves in, sometimes it is scary and dreadful, however most of the time it is uplifting, comforting, compassionate. The people that you will find here are truly the best people to answer questions and to calm your fears. I guess I have been lucky because all of my doctors (oncologist, radiologist and ent) all refused to discuss any statistics other than to say they are meaningless. I am only two months removed from radiation and chemo and one month removed from a radical neck dissection and my doctors all tell me I am way ahead of the curve in my recovery, had my peg tube removed thursday after 102 days, do I have any lingering side effects? You bet taste, saliva, swallowing, numbness I deal with them all, that being said I try to eat new stuff daily and push myself towards my once normal existence. I still do not have the stamina to be back in front of a class of teenagers but that will come soon enough. Vickie I do not know how valid my thoughts are but I am convinced, even at this early date, that my cancer IS NOT coming back, and I cannot afford to take energy away from my recovery by dwelling on what might be, all that I know is that today, as far as I know I am cancer free, nothing else matters. so my dear vickie hang in there and be positive for your john, if there is fear, which there always is, comfort is the flip side of that coin. hang in there my dear.
always lenny