Hi
Your story is so familiar as my husband also had tongue cancer and node involvment exactly one year ago (Oct 4th) with 1st surgery and then chemo and rads ending Dec 19th. And I can say you can make it to the other side, just know it will take awhile. If you read my previous posts you can see our journey. Emmett had his peg out yesterday and we got a report of no visual sign of cancer! It took us until Sept. 2011 to get our first good report so you are right this year was a hugh roller coaster ride but there is hope at the end. Hang in there because the only way to travel is forward and keep the positive spirit going. The track will smooth out.

CG 2 Emmett,7/09 DX SCC rt tongue. T2N1M0, 1 node, marg neg.4/10 PET/CT clear, 9/10 C back. 10/10 Rad hemi, 2 tmrs mod diff. resec flr of mth. Flap 4 nodes/w/ext cap. 11/10 Peg, CX3 HD, 30 rad. 1/31 & 3/21 6/11/11 - PET/CT "activity" 9/11-all Clear. 12/11 peg out. 2/15 still all clear! 9/14 Prostate cancer treated with pencil beam proton therapy, best radiation experience. Keep it in mind as a treatment option for all tumors that can be seen including head and neck.