Recovery Proceeding Well -- Big Day Friday (PET Scan)

May 10. I've been back to full time work for a few weeks. I'm eating well now -- able to eat almost everything. In fact, taste is not driving any eating decisions anymore. I also am no longer experiencing any pain in swallowing or due to high acid foods. I can also tolerate moderately spicy foods -- but don't really have any appetite for very spicy foods. Breads, nuts, chips are all "challenging" -- I can eat them, but they mostly stick to my teeth and require frequent sips of water to get down. In other words, they're not really worth the effort. But, I am doing fine with sandwiches -- especially if there's something moist inside, like a juicy hamburger or corned beef and sauerkraut! One other fantastic improvement is that the hearing in my left ear has returned. In my follow-up on April 23 with the Surgical Oncologist, he presecribed a steroid nose spray and recommended that I take Claritin daily. Don't know if these two things helped or not, but I can hear now. Probably not at pre-treatment levels, but compared to how its been the past 3 months, this is fantastic! I will see my dentist this coming Thursday. I last saw him in early November -- when I knew about the lump but thought it was just a swollen gland. I visited the office in January to have the "fluoride trays" made, but I did not see my Dentist then. I am a little nervous about the visit as I feel that my teeth "moved" during treatment and it was a big possibility that I'd have a lot of tooth decay due to the dryness of my mouth. This remains a big issue and something I'll have to manage the rest of my life...unless I get them all pulled like my father did. So, a little bit nervous about Thursday's dentist visit. Friday, I have another PET scan. Like the first time, I will wait around after to carry a CD of the Scan from Kettering Medical Center to the UC Health Center where my Oncologists are. I meet with the Radiation Oncologist a week from Thursday to review the PET Scan results. I honestly do not know what to expect. I can only hope (and pray) that the scan is clear. If it is not, I've not had any discussions about what that might mean in terms of follow-on treatment...How urgent it would be, for example. All I know is the Radiation Oncologist told me at the start that they cannot use radiation again on the same area...ever. So, if it is not gone in the neck area, I'll have only Chemo and Surgery as treatment options. If it had spread to other areas then, I suppose, radiation, chemo, and surgery would be options -- but, as I say, I don't know if it would be urgent to go after it right away or if they'd want me to recover more strength (and body weight) prior to treating again. I'll post again after the dentist and after the follow-up a week from Thursday.