Karen, all I can do is give you our experience. My husband got 3 opinions:

1. Mayo Clinic; surgery then chemo and radiation (this from the ENT/surgeon)

2. MD Anderson: first plan, surgery, then chemo. second plan, chemo then surgery, then radiation

3. University of Chicago: chemo then chemoradiation. Surgery only as a salvage procedure.

It was very interesting, every other patient we saw at Mayo had obviously had major surgery, giving us the impression that hospital leaned more towards surgical solutions. We did not care for the rad onc at MDA (at all!) and their vacilating plans made us uneasy. We went with U of C because their plan made the most sense to us as my husband's cancer was HPV+ and responds very well to this kind of treatment. Best of luck in your decision, I know it's not at all easy. Ana