Leena,

As I recall you are about 7 weeks post treatment. This is usually the first exam after treatment. In my case, since I did not have surgery, my otolaryngologist wanted to make sure the largest lymph node had responded to the radiation so he did a PET/CT and an MRI with contrast. The PET/CT showed no cancer but lots of healing and he reminded me they are sometimes misleading. Even with the physical exam there was concern that the swollen lymph node would require a neck dissection but based on the scan, he felt it would not be necessary, reminding me that with Stage IV cancer and the treatment I had, there would not be a high likelihood of further treatment increasing my survival chances. He did say that he would encourage me to undergo one surgery as a last ditch effort to remove any active cancer. I had another scan at 6 months (PET/CT) and it, too, was clear. I have another one scheduled for one year out. The reason he wants to scan is because of the advanced stage of my cancer. As Gary points out, the guidelines are regular (7-10 weeks) physical exams with exactly what you went through on your exam and a chest xray.

My point with this is there is no normal course and it depends on how far the cancer has spread and your specific circumstances.

Rejoice in your good news! Congratulations on yet another milestone for you.

Ed

SCC Stage IV, BOT, T2N2bM0
Cisplatin/5FU x 3, 40 days radiation
Diagnosis 07/21/03 tx completed 10/08/03
Post Radiation Lower Motor Neuron Syndrome 3/08.
Cervical Spinal Stenosis 01/11
Cervical Myelitis 09/12
Thoracic Paraplegia 10/12
Dysautonomia 11/12
Hospice care 09/12-01/13.
COPD 01/14
Intermittent CHF 6/15
Feeding tube NPO 03/16
VFI 12/2016
ORN 12/2017
Cardiac Event 06/2018
Bilateral VFI 01/2021
Thoracotomy Bilobectomy 01/2022
Bilateral VFI 05/2022
Total Laryngectomy 01/2023