Hi and welcome and sorry you have to be here.

i) yes... after the biopsy they can tell you the size of the tumor and margins - they can also tell you the aggressiveness. He will also need another CT/PET/MRI... to determine spread (metastasis). They should check lymphnodes, and a chest CT as this is one of the popular places for this cancer to move to. Chances are he's clear but better safe than sorry. Also microscopic cancer doesn't show up on a scan, so hopefully the dr. will be removing lymphnodes too.

2)No... I would go with the surgeons decision. What he is suggesting sounds quite involved I know, however, he likely suspects bone involvement - in the jaw. It is best to do this surgery before radiation and chemo as it is a hard surgery after. Plus chances are this is NON HPV related cancer and that being the case generally the first line of defense is surgery. And you can have radiation more than once. Several people here have had it more than three times. It depends on the amount he gets, and where to, and if he gets a recurrence where it comes back.

3)This cancer can move crazy fast (a good indicator of how fast will be his pathology - you want to know the differentiation - Poorly differentiated means it's aggressive. Get a second opinion, if you need to but make sure it is done quickly. Also try to be treated at a CCC if you can. This is the BEST place to be treated as it offers comprehensive team driven care, and they generally have clinical trials and a whole crapload of newer technology to support the cancer patient.

4)You can't - that is what the pathology is for. They can tell you the margins... clear generally indicates there is no more cancer in the area... however a person's buccal mucosa comprised of all the same cells. So that doesn't mean there couldn't be a patch somewhere else (eyes will help with this... Keeping an eye out for unhealing sores and white patches elsewhere. This is why they generally take out a larger area and radiation cleans up anything stray along with chemo.

5)No alternate medicine is NOT a risk worth taking. It generally doesn't work. I am a strong supporter of diet and healthy habits playing a serious role in healing and fighting cancer. However this should be a supportive measure. NOT a considered a cure. In other words I do believe a rich alkaline diet, with high non meat protein and nutrients will help fight cancer - but cancer is cancer - it should always be combined with proper medical treatment for the best possible outcome. There will always be someone's brother's cousin who was cured eating whatever. We are highly complex biological entities a number of things could happen to "cure a person" and sometimes basic misdiagnosis could come into play.

Hopefully this helped somewhat. The surgery sounds really invasive but a few people here have been through it and are doing really well. He will need care and support but he will get through it... MOSTLY HE NEEDS TO GIVE UP THE TOBACCO.

hugs and best of luck.