First I must say how brave you all are to post here. It truly feels like a safe place, thank you.

My father was diagnosed with SCC on the left tongue at the anterior base about two months ago now. He had surgey to remove it on 8/16. The tumor was much larger than they believed and extended very far back down his throat on the tongue. In the end they removed about 70% of his tongue including the majority of the floor of his mouth and left jaw lymph nodes. They rebuilt the floor, what they call a flap (sorry I don't speak fluent terms yet), with a graft from his wrist (rather large).

So far, so good. He still cannot swallow and is home with a g-tube for feeding a liquids, but he works daily on exercises from a therapist to learn how to swallow again.

We just learned that they want him to undergo 7 weeks of radiation therapy due to the size of his tumor and location. They were only able to get a 4ML clearance during the removal. We are all seriously concerned about his quality of life should he decide to move forward with the radiation treatment. Since it will be applied to his tongue, we/he are concerned about the salivary glands being wiped out and the long term effects of this, not to mention other concerns.

Can anybody offer some experience with radiation therapy results and progress? Sorry for such a long "I'm new here".

Thank you in advance for your courage. My thoughts and prayers are with all who gather here.

-David