Hi Adam. I'm new at this myself, having received a preliminary diagosis on March 26 this year that was confirmed via scan the following day. My diagnosis was very similar to yours.

I was given the option of surgery-before-radiation, with the possibility of chemo-radiation if surgery showed cancer cells had escaped the lymph node. Or I could have just gone the radiation/chemo route based on what they saw in the CT scan, with possible surgical follow-up. I chose the surgery-first option for two reasons. The first was that I just wanted the d***ed tumor out of me, and the second was that the neck dissection would show conclusively whether we had escaped cancer cells - meaning that chemo might not be necessary.

In my case I'm ending up with the trifecta (surgery, radiation and chemo). And I feel pretty good about that because we're throwing everything possible at the cancer. Surgical recovery time was about 2 weeks, although I took 3 off work just to be sure I was fully rested. And it feels really good to have the tumor(s) gone!

I've learned a lot from the folks here about the toxic side effects of chemo-radiation, and that has helped prepare me for what's ahead. You'll get the same great information and support here to help you make your decision. Best of luck.