hey there rebel! I am hoping it's not too bad for you. But sometimes, surgery just isn't enough, depending on stage and if lymph nodes are involved, or how deep it goes, they may suggest chemo and rad on top of surgery, but they like doing surgery first, cuz it gets tougher after rad or chemo.

If they decide you just need surgery though, i would advise that above going the rad/chemo route, unless they suggest all!

After my surgery, i recovered much quicker, with few side effects than i have since radiation. I still have lasting side effects from radiation, and i know it's from radiation and not from surgery, because after surgery but before radiation...i didn't have these problems.

I am now a year out of surgery, july will be my year for radiation, and i can eat/talk/drink just fine. Everyone gets different results though! I had a heck of a time with radiation, but some just sail right through!

Keep up the good fight and let us know when you know stage and what not!

I am just in MN so kinda a neighbor to you! So keep up the good fight! You should be happy I didn't say anything about the cheesehead, lol! Take care!