Joe I guess I would be a good candidate to answer this one. I had SCC to tongue and lymph node involvement also. Originally in August 2002, then discovered mets had spread to lymph nodes on opposite side, so had a second neck dissection and round of radiation and chemo in April/may of this year. I'm an American living in Southern China, and had to do surgery and treatment in Hong Kong, about a one hour car ride and one hour boat ride away. Not the sort of deal you go in the morning come back in the afternoon.

My mom lives in U.S. and my wife is Chinese and couldn't get a visa to visit Hong Kong right away, so the surgery part itself I was by myself for the first couple of days befor my mom could get to H.K the first time around. the second time around I was by myself the whole time of the surgery.

The hospital should be attentive enough that physically you should be ok if your alone. However, if you don't have anything to occupy yourself mentally that could be another issue. I took a good supply of books/music and my laptop computer.

However, the post op radiation/chemo would be a different story. Again, because of Visa problems my wife couldn't come in for the first 2 weeks or so of the radiation, and my mom only came in the first time around, then after 3 weeks.

Depending on how you react to Chemo, you may be ok by yourself for the first 2 or 3 weeks but after about 3 weeks you will most likely want some support. Energy levels go down, getting to the hospital itself could be a chore, and there will probably be some pain associated with radiation to the tongue. The first tiem around I did ok untl about week 5, then sort of "crashed" second time around they were just radiating my neck, so I was just tired, but still could make the trip back to China on weekends, still get around using public transportation. By the way, I didn't get a peg tube, so I wasn't dealing with that. However, the first time around I did wind up back in the hospital the last week of radiation because of lack of calorie intake and hydration. Basically, my tongue was fried and even water/ensure hurt like heck.

Living arrangements, I would suggest getting a temp-short stay apartment if you can afford it, preferably something with maid service. Try contacting Oakwood or some place like that. First time around stayed in hotel, not good. Second time around did the temp serviced apartment deal, more like home, and it was within walking distance or a 2 dollar cab ride to the hospital.

I don't know the full extent of your situation, but just to give you a feel for what's involved, that's my story. I'm probably the different one on this board, my company had offered to pay for me to go just about anyplace in the U.S. for treatment, and me I elected to stay here, mostly because no matter where I went in U.S., I would be in same situation, someplace strange, in a hotel, no support structure. So I stayed in HK, went with a hospital that's affiliated with MSKCC pretty much everything turned out ok.

If you have any specific questions, please feel free to contact me privately.
Bob S.