Tim,

My friend Rod was stage 4 with lymph node involment. The doctors he saw were a group of cancer specialists along with his ENT. They agreed on 7 weeks radiation & 3 rounds of cisplatin. They hit him hard because he was young(38) and they thought he could handle it. He did. It was a long road that wasn't easy but follow up pet scan showed no cancer. Surgery wasn't needed. He is 1 year out and is doing very well. He eats everything except bread, he struggles with dry mouth. He had to have the peg tube which was a godsend because swallowing was very difficult during tx. He is small & couldn't afford to lose much weight.Anyway talk to your doctors, find out as much as you can & hit it hard! At the time is seems impossible but it is~ and like Erik says when you look back it seems like it happened so long ago and it has only been a year for us!Time goes fast and it does get better!Good luck & God bless!I hope this helps!Maureen