Hello, my name is Sarah and I am a 32 female who was diagnosed with tongue cancer (Well differentiated, TIN1MX one month ago today (May 1, 2006). I have never smoked and I have only an occasional glass of wine with dinner. Additionally, I am a brand new mom (daughter Julia was born on March 17, 2006).

Since my diagnosis, I have had surgery on my tongue (3 weeks ago) and a partial neck disection where they removed all the nodes in levels 1-3. They removed the tumor on my tongue with 4mm of clear margins. Out of the 34 nodes removed in my neck, 1 node (4mm in size) was positive, so the tumor board has recommended that I go through radiation.

I meet with the radiation doctor tomorrow to disscuss the treatments. I live in the Washington DC area, so there are several places where I can get the latest and greatest in radiation thankfully.

My only question is about the neck. My surgeon mentioned at our last appointment that they would probably only radiate one side of my neck, but I have seen on many of these boards where both sides were recommended. Does anyone know why one side might be recommended over two sides in my case. It might not matter, since the radiation Dr. probably has a better idea of where to go from here, but I was just curious.

Thanks for any information,
Sarah