Ratface,
Welcome aboard. It appears our cancers may be similar. I had SCC BOT and lymph nodes. See my tag for my TX. I did not have surgery.

You mentioned second opinion. My second opinion Dr. at CTRC in San Antonio said the school of thought for what I had is now treatment then surgery only if the treatment doesn�t take care of it. First dr. was going to operate and then follow up with the Rads and Chemo.

At first I was planning on surgery after treatment because I wanted to make sure it was all out of there, but after reading this site during my treatment I realized that a lot of people get through this without surgery. I�m glad I got a second opinion.

Dileep mentioned Erbitux. I was in a study for Erbitux (Cetuximab) that may not yet be filled. If you can get in on the same study that would be good. There are guidelines to be followed that are the latest and greatest. They will also make sure you get the follow up scans so their data will be good. The one stipulation that I know of is that the BOT tumor is at least 1.5 mm.

Hang in there and be strong.