Thanks to you both, Susan and Cheryl. We are now in the process of contacting (and likely going to one of either) Univ. of Washington Med Center in Seattle, or MD Anderson in Houston, in hopes of receiving more assuredly top-quality care.

I am hopeful that it is still recommended that surgery is all that is needed. I'm a little unclear as to when exactly they recommend a neck dissection (so far, his doc here in Boise has NOT). Radiation seemed reassuring as a possibility because of what seems like the better assurance of no mets. But the more we read about radiation, the more we want to avoid it if possible. As I read somewhere, it sure is difficult deciding between various choices, none of which you actually want at all.

Susan, your info about the frozen sections is helpful. We will inquire about that for sure. Did you have speech therapy after your surgery? And if so, how long did it take you to (fairly well) recover any speech loss you had?

I didn't mention in my original post, my husband was originally diagnosed in 2006 when he was living in Germany. He had surgery there, and then just follow up with biopsies and some kind of freezing/superficial treatment I believe (unclear to me bc this was when we just met) in the years after, until this recent reoccurrence. The fact that it is a recurrence is what particularly scares me. I understand the initial treatment is perhaps the most important of all, and I wonder if they should have done more at that time.

In any case, thanks again for all the above posts and information. I do appreciate everyone's time taken for such thoughtful responses.

Best,
Louise