Catherine,
My cancer was in the soft palet at the back of the roof of the mouth and was minimally invasive. I also had a big area around that that was in situ. Unfortunately surgery was a last option for me as a large hole in the soft palet leaves a less then desirable quality of life so I went with a full round of radiation. I was spared the chemo so I fared better than most here.
I�m doing great now and life is good. I think the fact that they caught this early on really made the road for me much less difficult and the long term prognosis is always better when the cancer is caught at stage 1 or so.
I�m glad you got this early and hope you can avoid the radiation .