Don't believe in any statistics, they can be manipulated to say whatever you want them to. There's an argument I made against them (when thinking of myself) on the staging page of the OCF website here
http://oralcancerfoundation.org/facts/stages_cancer.htmYou are young and tougher than you think. Your age is an advantage, and you don't have old people's collateral issues. Don't think of needing radiation a second time. It is going to kick this cancer's butt the first time araound. If you need a feeding tube in the future, it won't be and NG but a PEG. None of that hardware hanging in your face, and when you're not using it, hidden under your blouse.
Personally, though you don't say where you are being treated, I don't care for these doctors attitudes. They are unnecessarily negative. After you have been on these boards for awhile, you are going to find that there are hundreds of us here that were later stage finds than you, that are still causing trouble many years out from our original treatment....I was stage four and I'm here 12 years later. There's nothing special about me biologically. In fact - I was a 98 pound weakling and the bullies at the beach used to kick sand in my face until I found a matchbook with a course from Charles Atlas in it.... Hum... you're too young to get that reference. But the idea is that your young and tough and can physically deal with whatever they throw at you.
This is going to be tough, but it, like all things, will one day be in your rearview mirror and life will go back to being normal. You will think of your cancer, and it will always be part of who you are, but it does not have to define who you are. Hang around the boards, talk to others that have done this dance. Ask for opinions, complain to us, or see if we make you laugh. For the time being think of the people here as your extended family.... they will treat you like it.
