Hi Heather! Sorry to hear about your husband's diagnosis, it sounds pretty similar to mine. Your husband had his hemiglossectomy on the same exact date I did 1 year ago! And sorry you are feeling attacked on the board! I just wanted to give you some support I had my surgeory at MD Anderson; however, after meeting with both the radiation oncologist and medical oncologist at both MD ANderson and my local(ish) cancer center, we made the decision to do the radiation and chemo locally in Louisiana, and so far so good!

I know how overwhelming everything can be... I went from being completely independent, care-free to being diagnosed with cancer, having to move back home with my parents (I was living in Atlanta), losing over half my tongue (when I was told I would only be losing about 1/4th), and just basically a spiral of bad news in about a month's time. And on top of that, you have to make serious decisions that can literally be the decision between life and death!

After much thought and consideration, though, we decided it would be best to be back home during the treatment. I think the decision was best for my family, I don't know if I could have handled any other changes. I will say though that one thing that helped us make the decision is that my team at MD Anderson discussed my treatment plan with my team at my local hospital, so everyone made a colllective decision on my treatment plan. Also, I had a lot of trust in my doctors and the machine used was the same at both hospitals.

A second opinion is always nice to have, just so you can feel more confident about the decision you ultimately choose. My biggest concern through all of it is that I didn't want to have any regrets... in case I ever have a recurrence, I don't want to be able to look back and say "if only I had...". And despite my decision to do treatment in Louisiana, I feel like I had the best treatment possible.

Good luck, he will get through this!