I am new here and just wanted to share my situation and get some feedback. I was diagnosed with cancer of the tongue 3 months ago. I had a partial glosectomy to remove the tumor which was successful. I did not follow it up with radiation and it spread into my lymph nodes like my doctor thought that it might. It was only 1 lymph node that was infected and you could barely feel it but it showed on the PET scan so he gave me the choice of either radiation or a neck dissection. After visiting the oncologist and him telling me all the side effect of the radiation I decided on the neck dissection. I was thinking I should have had another opinion on the radiation because this oncologist wanted to give me 6-8 weeks everyday doing my left/right side of my neck as well as my tongue saying that the fact that I am healthy and 30 yrs old that I can take it all. I just didnt want to deal with all the side effects of that much radiation years down the road. So this past wed I had a selective neck dissection which they removed 10 lymph nodes including the infected 1 which was 1.8cm however it was burried deep in my tissue and when the pathology came back it showed signs of it starting to spread. Even though it hasnt spread my ENT now wants to do the radiation to kill all the tissue that was surrounding that particular lymph node. Does all this make sense and should I have to have as much radiation as what the last oncologist told me now after I have already had the tumor removed? We have a very good cancer center locally that I am going to check into. I am hoping that I can just radiate the left side of my neck and monitor it closely after that. Please comment if you have had the same situation or know anything. They all keep telling me that I caught it very fast which is good but it sure doesnt seem like it. It has only been 3 days from my neck dissection and the drain tube has already been removed but the swelling is extreme, my throat is very very sore and I have lost feeling in my ear and part of my shoulder which the doctor said was normal. He told me I probably wont regain feeling back in my ear but I will in my should and my lower jaw in time. Has this happened to anyone else? Thanks so much