Andrew sadly there are quite a few younger people here with a similar dx I'm sure they'll pipe up and make themselves known - our youngest here was dave tyssen - I think at was his last name. He was 18 at dx - and he just got married a while ago. He's maybe 3 years out now or close to it. There are others - Emily P, Brazilian girl too. There was a young school teacher from New York last year who has done his treatment and moved on - he's not here a lot of the time. Angelia, and Kerri - were both in their late 20-30s.

I am older but with a similar story - see my tagline at the bottom.

One thing I want to say to you because you are young is to educate yourself so you can advocate for yourself. Do try to be treated at a CCC - the drs. there eat and breath your type of dx - this is what they do. Not saying other drs at other institutions aren't good. But you want someone who has seen a lot of this cancer.

Standard treatment for oral tongue cancer is surgical removal of the tongue area - and a graft - if needed - depending on the size of the tumor - with possible removal of certain nodes on the side involved. The neck dissection as it is called is often precautionary, because what shows up on a scan has to be a certain size - mocroscopic cancer there would be missed - so most Surgeons will take he nodes, since they are a jumping off point to the rest of your body, so removing them is kind of a stop gap.

If your surgeon says its a small tumor and doesn't want to take your nodes - that's fine just keep a close eye on them and if someone happens like one swells high tail it back to him ASAP. (It often happens after the original tumor is removed a node will pop up because sometimes the tumor has seeded to the nodes but has stayed dormant)

If he does remove your nodes and any cancer is found in them you may then be referred to a radiation oncologist - they will recommend you for radiation and possibly chemo. Tx is usually anywhere from 30 - 35 days of radiation and 3-6 bags of chemo depending on the regiment employed by your hospital. (Radiation is given daily for 5 days with weekends off) this eats up 6-7 weeks of your life and radiation is cumulative so it is actually worse for the first two weeks post treatment.

Surgery though it sounds daunting is a quick relatively easy recovery. It's radiation that can have lasting long term effects. Regardless, it can save your life so if its recommended then its often for a good reason.

One thing that I have noticed is that younger people tend to have a fairly aggressive form of this cancer - so they may throw the book at you to be on the safe side.

Welcome... Though its scary to have to be here - you're in a good place. Eat up and enjoy your food now. Surgery will put you out of commission for up to 14 days in the eating department, and radiation if offered - you'll have possibly 6 weeks to heal and bulk up a bit, then eating will likely become pretty hard for a good few months - hugs and take care.

Ps - you want to know the staging, differentiation and spread. This will give you some idea of the type of treatment you will be facing.