There are actually specific NCCN oncology practice guidelines for followup exams and other scans, etc. See:
http://www.nccn.org/professionals/physician_gls/PDF/head-and-neck.pdf The first year the Head&Neck Surgeon or ENT will become the primary physician and will see you the most often. The oncologist (who was the primaty during treatment) and radiation oncologist will track you fairly closely as long as you are having side effects from the treatment. I am just year 3 and I now see the H&N Surgeon every 4 months, the other docs every 6 mos. I have been scoped twice post Tx and that was after I had recovered a little bit. I have had 2 MRI's post Tx and now get an annual one as well as a chest x-ray.
I have lab work done every 6 months to coincide with the oncologist visit. They test for liver function (this might be just because I have Hep C as well), CBC, and TSH levels (in the beginning of post Tx they also tested kidney function). I also had 3 hearing tests because I was treated with Cisplatin. Since chemo can damage kidneys, liver, bone marrow and radiation can damage the thyroid there is a lot of blood chemistry to watch (and it is very difficult to make sense of the numbers). The further you get from Tx the less lab work will be required.
The physical exam is mainly look-see with special mirrors and palpation (initially inside the mouth but now more external, looking for enlarged lymph nodes etc.
It is normal to see all kinds of things in early post Tx and the doctors dutifully record it. The majority of the time it's either just the normal healing process or maybe thrush. Don't let these kinds of comments shake you up. I even had lousy MRI's in the beginning because of the scar tissue.
By the way, MRI's are the scan of choice for H&N cancer and there is no radiation involved which is a good thing. Some folks here get PET or PET/CT's as well.
Since we are all different doctors may utilize different followup protocols. Many other factors enter into this as well such as staging, tumor type, location, etc.
