Hi, Eileen.

You brought up a good point, which I hadn't thought through fully---neither center has completed its "full" board review. (Why do those reviews take so long?) I hestitate to mention the name of the cancer center I referred to in PA, because I'm concerned that my friend (who accompanied me to the appt) and I may have misunderstood the doctor, and I don't want to speak poorly of this center that was ranked #11 in the entire nation. But as long as you know that I'm admitting that we may have misunderstood what the doctor said, I'll share with you that it was Fox-Chase. I'm highly impressed with the facility. The doctor who I spoke with is a radiation oncologist, and what my friend paraphrased that he had said was, "Radiation cannot make up for inadequate surgery." This addressed my situation of my first tongue cancer surgery pathology report coming back to show that the margin around the tumour at one point was less than 1 mm. I have differing recommendations---either to go back in for a second surgery (with a neck dissection as well), or to not have surgery & just do radiation. Sloan-Kettering gave a preliminary recommendation of radiation only (although I won't hear their final recommendation until August 6th), and Fox-Chase gave a preliminary recommendation of surgery only (although I won't hear their final recommendation until August 13th). Waiting is difficult, and in fact, I'm concerned about the timing, should the course of treatment be radiation, because my first surgery was peformed on June 22nd, and you shouldn't wait too long after surgery to begin radiation? Is that true?