Efab,
Listen to AMy. She's a smart lady and knows what she's tlaking about.
I had radiation after surgery (mine was 17 hours...talk about being thrown for a loop!)
The "flap" they referred to is either a tissue- only or a tissue and bone transfer from one part of the body to another, in this case to the face and jaw.
Have they said anything about a possible mandible or palette involvement? This will dictate where the flap is taken from.
In my case, they removed 40% of my jaw. The flap came from my lower leg. They removed the fibula for use in rebuilding my jaw, however the tissue they removed didn't provide adequate bloodsupply for their needs. To get that, they did a second, tissue only flap from my forearm. This also necessitated some skin grafts, which to be honest were the worst part of the ENTIRE surgery.
Radiation most comonly used for Head and Neck cancers seems to be IMRT, which is highly precise. I've heard a bit about the gamma knife, but not a lot in this context.
Your husband sounds to be a lot like me. For the first couple of weeks after I was diagnosed, I couldn't even type in the word "cancer" on the computer without having an anxiety attack.
Once I did, I started to learn, and to develop the tools I needed to fight this beast. He will get there, just give him time
Wayne