You will see your surgeon again two to three weeks after the surgery, so that he/she gives you the results of the tests performed after the surgery. The question is knowing whether all the cancer was removed or not, and if the cancer was very aggressive or not.
 
When the cancer was not totally removed, or it is very aggressive, the surgery needs to be completed by radiation therapy (X-rays). In fact, in both of these cases there is a risk of recurrence of the cancer. The objective of radiation therapy is to kill the remaining cancer cells, to reduce the risk of recurrence to a minimum.
 
The decision to perform radiation therapy or not is taken by a group of doctors during a dedicated meeting.

Whether you have post-operative radiation therapy or not, monitoring will always be required. Therefore, you will have regular consultations with your surgeon, who will verify at each time that there is no sign of recurrence of cancer. He will take advantage of the consultation to ensure that you eat properly, and that you live comfortably with the tracheostoma.

After 5 years of monitoring without recurrence, your surgeon will consider that you have been cured. From that time one, the monitoring will be limited to a visit per year, since the risk of recurrence or appearance of a second cancer exists.