The Mayo Clinic doctor's confirmation of the plan for radiation as soon as possible sounds like good news to me. When my son was diagnosed, (University of TN Med Ctr, Knoxville, TN) the hospital he was treated at was not on the NCI list of cancer centers, but they did have a cancer team that all got together with us to come up with the best plan. The ENT was a Maxillofacial surgeon and was known to be very aggressive in his treatment which included surgery to remove lymph nodes and radiation. Whenever the team got together, in addition to the doctors, it included my son, me, my daughter and a nurse friend of mine so that we got all our questions answered. You mentioned "side effects" - if you mean side effects from radiation, this varies with the individual - some survivors just sail right through with very little effects while others have a much more difficult time. My son did have a difficult time with the radiation, but he's been cancer free now for over 5 years and doing just great! If it's not possible to get to a cancer center, perhaps there is a hospital that would have a cancer team and an ENT with oral cancer experience?