Hello everyone. I just joined today and I look forward to getting to know you all. I have a few questions and would love to hear anyone's ideas or experiences. Please forgive me if I'm long winded.

I am a 33 year old woman who was was diagnosed with SCC of the right ventral tongue last week. I've had many lesions in the same area for the past ten years, but this is the first time that one has tested positive for cancer. The tumor is 1.5 on the surface and did not show up on the MRI. My ENT said that means it is probably superficial. The MRI showed that some of my lymph nodes on the right side were swollen, so I am scheduled for a needle biopsy on Monday. I am already scheduled for a surgery on the 9th to remove the tumor from my tongue and they will add a neck dissection if the needle biopsy is positive for any of the nodes. The surgeon said that since the tumor is near the front of my tongue, it could spread to either side of my neck. What I'm having trouble deciding is whether to have an elective neck dissection if the biopsy comes back negative. I have a three month old baby. I want to be aggressive in fighting the cancer, but don't want to have unnecessary treatment that might impact my ability to care for her. The information I've found so far seems mixed regarding neck dissection for t1n0 patients. My ENT is on the fence about it and the oral cancer specialist at the local teaching hospital who I saw for a second opinion said he wasn't sure it was necessary.

Would it make sense to wait until after the tongue surgery to decide? Then I could find out if the tumor is HPV+ or not and whether it is well differentiated. Are there other things that I should be considering while making this decision? Any opinions or information would be much appreciated. I hope this isn't too many questions for a first post.