Kate,
does your story sound familiar! I too went to the ENT scared to death of having a big old needle stuck my throat to drain an abcess and fainted, yes fainted, when he rather bluntly got angry with me for wating so long to come in and that I had a very advanced cancer and get my affairs in order. I visit his office yearly just to remind him that some some people actually DO survive this (and go on to lead productive and supercharged lives). I attribute my survival not to him but because I went to a comprehensive cancer center like the one in Houston (which must be MD Anderson) GO THERE! Get the best care you can. Base of tongue cancer is tough and aggressive. No node involvement is great - you may get away with radiation and chemo only. I handled it much like you did and became a "doctor". Didn't sleep for weeks while I researched every aspect of treatment and what options were avaible. Drove the doctors nuts with highly technical questions but I am alive almost 5 years later. It will be tough sledding for a while but you can get through this. We're all pulling for you.

There is a list of CC's and CCC's in the resources section of the main page page. Check out the local CCC or CC's site and make sure that H&N cancer is specifically mentioned as one of their specialties. Sorry Eileen I just duplicated your excellent advice.