EzJim, sorry for all you have endured but you seem like a real fighter and i truly appreciate your perspective and wish Dad could be more like this.. for I do think if he was chronologically younger the DR's would be more comfortable with surgery...
My Dad - 85 yrs old; 9/09 diagnosed T3NOMO; rad/low dose chemo; all clear; 6/10 - L retomolar trigone; more chemo; seems to have shrunk; 10/2010 back - significant ulcerative mass in the left retromolar trigone extending into the left tonsil