Hey Minnie,
My RO is more agressive in some ways then the H&N Surgeon. She likes to put on a latex glove, go deep, in the throat and palpate the tumor bed. Then she usually has a resident poke around as well. She specializes in head & neck disease and IMRT. She's also outside of my HMO plan. so go figure. I just LOVE the tatse of latex (but then at I CAN taste it;-)

The H&N guy is more into a couple of tongue depressors, mirrors and palpating my neck for enlarged nodes.

I haven't been scoped since just post Tx. The RO also orders my annual MRI which my HMO dutifully obeys (they are read twice - by a radiologist at Kaiser and then again at UCSFCCC) and then they swap reports. She has me bring her a CDR of the MRI's so I always burn a copy for me too (like I know what I'm looking at). I can see why they pay these guys the big bucks. Around here even x-ray techs make 6 figures.

I've bitten myself so bad at times my lip looks like hamburger.