Hi Frances,
Good to hear from you again. It sounds like things are going well. My field is in radiological devices and I (and UCSF) where I received IMRT treatment (I am a Kaiser Permanente member but they contract out radiation oncology services, hence the reason why I went to UCSF CCC for treatment) insisted on a PET scan. I was relieved that the only place where cancer showed up was at the tumor site. PET scans have become increasingly accurate and with new fusion techniques, i.e. Pet/CT, offer even greater accuracy. I have read reports of up to 98% accuracy. Your doctors knowledge may be dated or the HMO doesn't want the added expense of the test (they are a relatively expensive scan). They are also a very long scan so throughput also makes it more expensive. They also need to be close to a cyclotron to have access to the short half life radioisotope they inject into you.

I finished treatment (rad/chemo)in March and have been on a 6 week examination schedule with the oncologist, radiation oncologist and head & neck surgeon. I had a CT mid treatment and an MRI 30 days post treatment. I also had a chest x-ray (specifically to detect lung mets), also requested by UCSF. The Head & Neck surgeon has just moved me to 2 months, as he is happy with my healing progress. I meet with the other two doctors on Monday the 11th so I'll let you know the outcome. I have also still been getting an occasional blood test because my WBC has remained low and I take a maintenance dose of Diflucan so I have liver and kidney function tested periodically as well.

I can't comment on the PEG since I opted to go with the PEGless diet plan (sic). It worked really good - I dropped over 60 lbs.

I am not sure but I know of people who have been on chemo for years. Maybe you can't have the chemo you just had but here are many different chemo options. If you had IMRT you can have radiation again nearby (Not that I would particularly relish of thought of going through either one again). I also understand that the amount of radiation you had is also a factor. Sometimes they only give 60 Gy and can later add another 10 Gy if need be. You should know that number - ask your radiation oncologist.

The new ACS booklet has a lot of useful information about post care you can download or order it from:
http://www.acscsn.org/books/ or check out the thread in survivor stories.

As far as your exam frequency, they are probably following standard practice guidelines (or worse - insurance co. guidelines) for your particular tumor and staging but I would definitely ask. I was surprised that I was on 6 week intervals (originally they had told me 8 weeks). It was comforting and frightening at the same time. I get a little more comfortable each time however.