I have a couple of questions that I can't seem to find answers to.

My husband is one year out of chemo and rad following unresectable tonsil and floor of mouth cancer-stage III. He is doing much better.....working everyday and slowwwwwwly gaining weight. Once a very robust 180 he lost 50 lbs in 6 months. Now he is back to approximately 140.

My questions concern remission versus local control. His scans have always been abnormal.....not able to rule out the presence of active cancer or just inflammation.

He had a PET scan in July that suggested that a larger area in and around the tonsil, along with an additional area on the side of the tongue was "hot". The tongue was a new spot and the tonsil area had "possibly" increased in size since the previous PET in January. These were evaluated by a second specialist at Johns-Hopkins and he assured us that nothing was visable or palpable and his blood counts were good. On this information, he believed the areas to be inflammation and to follow-up with more scans in Dec-Jan.

Bottom line, I guess, is how long can inflammation show up in a PET and CT after treatment is finished? We were initially told six months, but are now being told that it is a very good chance that this is all it is a year out.

Lastly, how accurate are blood tests in suggesting an active tumor? Our Oncologist also keeps assuring us that his labs are "good". Just not sure what it all means in the scheme of things. I understand there are markers that are monitored, but don't really understand the reliability.

Thank you all in advance for any information you might be able to share. You are all in my thoughts every day. I don't know where I would be without your support and patience.

Bless you all,
Mandi