MINNIE!

First, what great news! I am glad to hear you even had the trifecta! You should get as many opinions as you think you need to feel comfortable about what you are doing. MD Anderson has a physician consult process that allows them to review everything with your doctor and give a written concurrence or challenge to you. I did that with my treatment plan before it started and they were way cool about it. They suggested sending in summary reports and scans if needed and the doctor called me to tell me he not only agreed 100% but he wanted me to know that my doctor is who he sends people to for second opinions.

I had the swallow test done and even though 100% of what I swallow stops where my trachea is a little crooked, they felt I had developed adequate strategies to use water or liquid or more food to move out the portion that was stopping. I never know what to think about what some of the experts tell me. I still struggle with swallowing daily but they really don't know what to do.

I have come to the conclusion that aftercare is the biggest need today. I was quoted by a doctor that there are 5 million survivors out there and once treatment is over, they are literally pushed out into the world and there is no incentive for a medical oncologist, for example, to see those patients because he will see a drastic revenue reduction. We are trying to address that in Dallas but certainly it will be a long road filled with bumps and obstacles. One thought was to utilize more Nurse Practitioners, etc. I think once the poison, burn and slash us up, they need to physically rebuild the body from the core up. We are banged up just as bad as a person in a car wreck yet they get rehab.

Anyway, my nickels worth ($.02 adjusted for gasoline price).

Ed