We are in NY...Landed at 6:00 AM this morning, and went straight to the Dr's appt at Sloan.

Nothing surprising.

Basically he did a fair exam and said everything looks ok.

He checked the "site" and said "...looks clean and good...I don't see any cancer..." smile

Looked me over pretty good...he and the entire staff were amazed at my transformation from just over a month ago when I was a walking (crawling) zombie.

Asked all the basic questions and of course they took vitals (all normal despite my slightly lingering 'cold'). {stuffy head, dry mouth, general blah}

I didn't sleep on the flight, so I was not exactly bright eyed and bushy tailed, but none the less the Dr said he thought I had made a nice recovery.

I reviewed the list of items with him and the only 'big issue" is the giant white elephant in the room. (not me, I lost 60 pounds!!! :p ) No, the elephant of course, is the threat of recurrance.

He is fairly straight forward about this possibility and seems to think there is always a "good chance"...he says that RO's and ENT's might not tell a patient this, but he's the "one who has to deal with the patient when it comes back" so he knows the reality is it can, and many times does.

He also said something which surprised me. We were talking in general about metastisis and discussed what happens if it spreads to the lungs. He virtually said that if it spreads below the clavical that there's really nothing that can be done. With all the trials, etc. going on, I would think that on the cutting edge there has to be some "hope" for those that have it spread to the lungs, etc.

Anyway, he did a scope and inspected me over pretty good...said all looks clear!!!!

No CT or PET right now (too soon after tx), No blood work etc for now.

Got a referral to a friend of his from UCSF, and after all the great things I've heard from people on here, I will likely resume monthly checkups with them for a while since a monthly trip to NY would be exhausting (not to mention expensive!) smile

It's only about 3 hours from our place, so its much more manageable.

The Dr had a fellow ENT look over my neck incisions and discuss the fact that they reopened and aren't really healing. The ENT seemed to dismiss this as no cause for major concern and said to stop picking at them and use bacitratian (sp?).

So, that's the news! Good news I guess, huh?

The first of hopefully dozens of clean checkups!

Well...Seth and I are off to dinner at one of our NY favorites we missed during my tx...

Hope everyone here is doing well.

Michael | 53 | SCC | Right Tonsil | Dx'd: 06-10-05 | STAGE IV, T3N2bM0 | 3 Nodes R Side | MRND & Tonsillectomy 06/29/05 Dr Fee/Stanford | 8 wks Rad/Chemo startd August 15th @ MSKCC, NY | Tx Ended: 09-27-05 | Cancer free at 16+ Yrs | After-Effects of Tx: Thyroid function is 0, ok salivary function, tinnitus, some scars, neck/face asymmetry, gastric reflux. 2017 dysphagia, L Carotid stent / 2019, R Carotid occluded not eligible for stent.2022 dental issues, possible ORN, memory/recall challenges.