My mother in law was diagnosed with SCC on the side of her tongue. She is 88 years old and has severe RA. Her ENT initially was going to send her to Vanderbilt in Nashville but then decided he could do the surgery. The tumor is a T3. She had 5 biopsies over the past ten years, all cancer-free until this most recent. There is no suspected lymph node involvement. She is scheduled for surgery on August 9th but is now having second thoughts. She really doesn't believe she will make it out of surgery. The family wonders if she should have gone to Vanderbilt. Given her age and condition we thought the trip would be difficult for her (about 3 hours). What will the post-op be like? Should we go to Vanderbilt? HELP!