Hi everyone!

I'm a brand new member here. I just had surgery to remove a squamous cell carcinoma from the floor of my mouth on July 21. The surgery was successful, The tumor was clean around the edges, and the lymph nodes were also spotless. Now, I'm trying to put my life back together.

I am married to a wonderful wife (13 years) and have three beautiful daughters (10, 7, 2). I am a musician. I play trumpet in a rock n roll band. I've also recently begun training to be a competitive powerlifter. All of this at the ripe old age of 47.

The decision for radiation therapy is entirely up to me. I'm kind of caught between the benefit of a few extra percentage points vs. the possible side effects and what that could do to my livlihood. My wife found this website. I'm glad she did.

Hi - I would say most people in our forum have received radiation and chemo treatments. It is extra artillery in this fight. My husband was one of the few who didn't have the treatment, just surgery, because, like you, his cancers (see my "signature" below - you can add one also) were all superficial (because they were caught so quickly), had clean margins, and were well differentiated, and his neck dissection pathology found no cancerous nodes. His have been in his cheek and on his gums, and one on his lip, all SCCs. He was never a smoker, no HPV (which they are finding in more cases of oral cancer now), but he does have leukoplakias and lichenoids. His doctor is monitoring him often, as lesions pop up every so often. This is just one person's experience. Others will tell you theirs also.
Now, without further adieu, welcome to the Oral Cancer Foundation forum! Where are you in Minnesota? Husband and I were born and raised in Winona and lived in the Twin Cities for many years after we were married.
If we can be of further help, please message us. Keep us all informed. : )

Thank you, Lostpassword. We live in North Mankato. My surgery was done in Rochester at Methodist Hospital. How old was your husband when he had his surgery? What went into his decision for no further treatment? I really don't want to go through it. I'd like to let my body heal up, and get on with life. To me, it seems too much can go wrong with radiation treatment. The Mayo Clinic gave me a 15 - 20% chance of recurrence, then let me decide. Right now I'm saying,"No."

If Mayo says you only have a 15 - 20 % recurrence chance without radiation then I would agree that I would not opt for the rad BUT I find their % chances doubtful.

Hi again - please listen to whatever your doctors want you to do. My husband has had 4 surgeries, including the neck dissection, starting at about age 57. He is almost 66 now and the last several check-ups have been satisfactory. He has had recurrences, all surgically removed, but has had a couple opinions that they would have occured with or without radiation, which was offered to him but not with any conviction by the doctors because of his clear margins, stage one, etc. You must stay on top of this with frequent check-ups and pay attention to any changes in your mouth, whichever direction you AND your doctors decide.
Now, can I have a name so I can put something after "Hi ____"? : ) My husband and I are Dick and Jane, and have traveled thru Mankato several times when we lived in Mn. Mayo is one of the top notch hospitals for cancer treatment, so you are seeing medical staff with expertise and experience that can guide you thru this process. PLEASE keep in touch! And ONWARD, Rock n' Roll! : )

[quote=davidcpa]If Mayo says you only have a 15 - 20 % recurrence chance without radiation then I would agree that I would not opt for the rad BUT I find their % chances doubtful. [/quote] Thank you for your response. You think my chances are better for recurrence? Based on what?

[quote=Lostpassword]Hi again - please listen to whatever your doctors want you to do. My husband has had 4 surgeries, including the neck dissection, starting at about age 57. He is almost 66 now and the last several check-ups have been satisfactory. He has had recurrences, all surgically removed, but has had a couple opinions that they would have occured with or without radiation, which was offered to him but not with any conviction by the doctors because of his clear margins, stage one, etc. You must stay on top of this with frequent check-ups and pay attention to any changes in your mouth, whichever direction you AND your doctors decide.
Now, can I have a name so I can put something after "Hi ____"? : ) My husband and I are Dick and Jane, and have traveled thru Mankato several times when we lived in Mn. Mayo is one of the top notch hospitals for cancer treatment, so you are seeing medical staff with expertise and experience that can guide you thru this process. PLEASE keep in touch! And ONWARD, Rock n' Roll! : )
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Thank you, Jane. The problem is that my radiology oncology doctor WOULD NOT recommend one way or another. How can I take her advice? Based on how badly I feel now, and what MIGHT happen due to side effrects vs. my lifestyle, it seems a no brainer to opt out. Oh, I'm Chuck and my wife is Amy. I'll keep in touch.

Hi Chuck - I have to say that being the mother of a cancer free 4 year survivor, any percentage at all of recurrence without radiation would be enough for me to opt for having the treatment. I got all anxious and stressed out no-sleep worrying for five days just waiting for the results of the CT scan my son had recently, while worrying about a recurrence, and it wasn't even happening to me! It's been said before, but everybody is different and some people just sail right through the radiation and others like my son really had a rough time of it. However during the radiation process, when things got pretty bad, they gave him a week off to heal a little before continuing. What would your doctors think about starting the radiation and having a break at some point if it got too rough on you? I'm sure there must be pros and cons about this that a doctor could explain or have an opinion. I do hope that whatever you decide, that everything goes well and smoothly!

Has your cancer been staged? Apart from my husband (in situ), Jane's (Lostpassword) husband (in situ or Stage 1) and Jerry Wilck (wilckdds, Stage 1), I can't think of very many folks here who did NOT have radiation.

Jane has explained her husband's situation above. You could do a search on Jerry's posts -- choose "Advanced" in the search box in the upper right to enable the search for a keyword AND a user name -- to see if he talks about not having radiation, or you could send him a e-mail or a private message to ask why he didn't (or whether it was even offered).

Hi, Chuck and Amy : )
I can't add anymore, except to say if you have any more concerns or questions, PLEASE don't hesitate to ask any of us. I think Leslie is right about the few who have not had rads, at least in my memory. And DO keep posting! Jane

Hi Chuck and Amy. Welcome to OCF. Best of luck with your decision. It is a huge decision and only yours to make. Im not a fan of going by statistics, everyone is different and can be that one exception. Wishing you a speedy recovery and good health