Anne, my cancer had metastasized to two of my left neck lymph nodes. They irradiated everything from my jawline to my clavicle on both sides to be sure. Guess they figured that would take care of the primary (?) as well as any rogue cells the scans and triple endoscopy didn't reveal. In any event during my neck dissection my surgeon found no growth beyond the nodes - no extra-capsular spread I believe is the term - which in turn led my MO to conclude that radiation alone would do the trick without chemo. For which, needless to say, I was grateful.

As far as the PEG/no-PEG issue, my RO suggested to me before we began that if I applied myself she thought I could get through it without one. As I'd just had a major complication during the second surgery (the dissection) in which my neck began to swell and bleed in Recovery, necessitating a quick return to the OR for an emergency tracheotomy, and which my surgeon surmised might have been caused by a bad reaction to anesthesia, I was understandably a bit reluctant to go under again right away for the PEG procedure.

Once I got deep into treatment and discovered how nearly impossible it was to swallow even liquid nutrition I kind of wished I'd gone with the PEG and damn the torpedoes. But of course it was too late by then. I would advise anyone entering a course of RT to this part of the body to seriously consider the PEG!

And Eileen.... interesting that you heard 5%. It's always possible that my brain was asleep the day my doc gave me the higher figure.

D Who Is Not The First D