Morgan

Good for you to question what to to do. IMO, if you do have a oral cancer tumor you leave untreated, you will die in a very unpleasant manner. Christine spelled it out: watchful waiting is never an option for tongue cancer. I'm a firm believer in watchful waiting for prostate cancer and a 75 year friend who does have prostate cancer has found it works great for him these last 5 years. But trust me, if you wait until it gets worse, your quality of life after TX will be much worse. It's hard to tell from your post without more info but it sounds like you could be a Stage I or II, which means you can be cured and still have taste, eat etc. If you wait until you are stage IV, you risk ending up like me, losing all ability to eat or drink, speak with an impairment, constant pain and a lifetime feeding tube. BTW, my life is still worth living and I have more fun than most people, but since your post implies that you are willing to risk dying than live like this, not getting TX now when the tumor is small and hasn't spread is pretty much a guarantee that you will undergo much more "torture" later than now.

Please ask your doctors to tell you the precise medical staging. It should be what Stage ( I thru IV), Tumor size (T1-T4), Node involvement (N #)and if it has spread (M)
We use that in our signature. You can see I was Stage IV, with a size T3 tumor and 2 Lymph nodes with cancer that had not spread (IV,T3,N2).

Foley Cancer Center (formerly Community Cancer Center) may have had the same initials as a CCC but at OCF we mean the official Comprehensive Cancer Center. As you have already found out, there are zero CCC in Vermont. The NIH website indicates he nearest NCI-designated Cancer Centers are in New Hampshire, New York, and Massachusetts. But lots of OCF posters get regional treatment from non CCC and do very well.
Your post give no indication of a remission, miracle or otherwise. Not having pain and sticky saliva is no indication of whether your cancer tumor is growing.

Last but not least, I understand your concerns. After my cancer came back, I wanted my ENT to [quote]tell me to give it more time, and if my situation does get worse, then I'll be able to proceed with Plan A at that time. [/quote] Her reply was that I would be very foolish to make that decision and when I pushed back, she graphically described how an oral cancer patient dies when they let the tumor grow: they either suffocate or else die when the tumor bursts through their face and neck or else spreads to the lungs. She had stubborn patients who did make that choice and she did say she could keep me doped up enough that I would not have any pain.
Like Eric S on this board though, I have promises to keep and miles to go before I sleep

Keep the faith
Charm