Geri,

We return to Moffitt Cancer Center for each of Bill's followups. He saw them on October 31 the first time after his treatments ended on Oct 1/07. That visit consided only of a visual and tactile exam. The next exam in early January of 08 consisted of a PET/CT and then a visit with the doc for her exam and prelimary results from the scans which she was thankfully able to pull up electronically. It is such a help to have the doctor give us at least a preliminary the same day and keeps us from worrying so much waiting for the official report. He has since had one more PET/CT ..August that was also clear. As you can see, he is being checked quarterly.

RE: the peg. Bill was able to start eating by mouth within a week of his end of treatment. I contend that he received heavy duty antibiotics and hydration during his hospitilization that last week of treatment and it helped his recovery because once out of the hospital, he started getting better immediately even with the spector of three more radiation treatment (actually 6 more because it was two a day)and one more chemo. By week two post treatment, he was eating totally by mouth. We kept the PEG in at the suggestion of Moffit's doctor until after his first scans, but when they were good, she sent a nurse in and yanked it that day. We were both kind of shocked that they offered to do it but it was nice to get it out. He still has his mediport...we keep dragging our feet scheduling to get that out.

I still remember how happy we were to take the two cases of Nutren and all the peripheral tube feeding equipment to our RO's nurse to distribute to someone who needed it. It was like graduation day!

Deb