Yes, what your doctor is telling you is pretty much the standard operating procedure. The visualization/palpation exam is the mainstay of your followups. Even when I had an MRI that was a little weird, the radiologist ordered "direct visualization" by the head & neck surgeon. Scar tissue often cause "false positives".

As far as scans are concerned, the "practice guidelines" don't call for anything more than annual chest x-rays although many here have had annual PET scans, CT's, MRI's, etc. It probably depends on your staging, doctor, insurance company and other factors.

None of us are terribly excited about "good checkups" - that's normal too. After 16 months at least I don't feel any where near as much anxiety now. I have to admit I did feel ok (not great but ok) when it was a year post Tx, since statistically, my recurrence rate dropped significantly (at least local anyway).

Congratulations on your good checkup. You are cancer free today!