My PC doctor is my age, old, but still practicing three days per week. Internal medicine. I am his only head and neck cancer patient he has ever had. He has had patients with other cancers, not a lot, but a few over the years. He is sometimes perplexed by what is left of me, how I cope, how I am in such remarkable health otherwise, considering.
I hope he never has another head and neck cancer patient.
My dentist as well, he was amazed by the surgery I had to replace my necrosisitic mandible. I gave him surgery information and photos to study. He actually knows of one other patient who has had my issue and in the dental community in our area, he is the "go-to" guy for questions regarding osteoradionecrosis in the jaw, primarily because he enquired of me and I obliged.
We are the few. We have each other but we are otherwise alone. I feel it is up to us to insist on our post treatment care. We have to speak up and let our local medical people know that we realize they have no answer yet we need to figure these things out before the autopsy is performed.
Many of you in this group have at the very least given of your time and encouragement. That in itself is important, especially to the new members. As a mentor in this group I would like to say "Thank you."
Sorry I got off topic a bit. Courage.