Great news on the biopsies. If you are not currently at a teaching hospital which is known for treating head and neck cancers, I would try to get a referall to one in your area. I would then get their opinion on next steps. Those cancer centers work in teams that have surgeons, radiation oncologists, oncologists, etc. who meet as a tumor board to make recommendations for treatment. It sound like you had a pretty good sized tumor. I had similar treatment and they did not radiate initially but it came back two months later in the same area. I then did 7.5 weeks of twice a day radiation which was no fun believe me. My biggest fear was that I would have no more saliva which did happen. But I have found that I just carry a bottle of water with me all the time and it is not a big problem. I also had some bad side effects from the treatment which required additional treatment so there are downsides to it. The good news is that in my case that radiation treatment made me cancer free for the next 19 years. Good luck.

In 1994 I found a 3cm tumor on my right tonsil. After 3 rounds of chemo, I underwent a radical neck dissection with a peck flap. I had a reoccurance which required twice a day radiation treatments and then had 19 years cancer free. I then found a very small tumor on my right tonsil. It was removed. Then I found a 1 cm mass near the base of my tongue on the left side. I had two partial glossectomys with bad margins and then then underwent Brachytherapy.