Craig,
It sounds like the oral tongue, and not base of tongue, which is a different area (oropharynx) and mostly
HPV related, which treatment may be different than oral tongue cancer, besides it being a certain stage or tumor grade.
My tumor grade and staging in the oropharynx was T1M2bM0, which is Stage 4.
I’m not sure what stage or tumor grade your cancer is or was, but it sound like N0M0, but tumor size is unknown to me, and if there were any negative prognostic factors, which it doesn’t sound like it, but you can check with your surgeon, surgical report, and biopsy. The surgical margins can be a factor too.
In addition to the above, you can check the 2017 NCCN Head and Neck Cancer Guidelines for suggested measures of care and testing, for your type cancer and grade, if you like, which may coincide what your doctors are saying, and largely followed as a guideline.
You can ask your surgeon why they put radiation on the table as an option? I can guess a few, but maybe you would like to hear what the doctor says, besides not knowing 100%. I listened to my doctors or went elsewhere, and usually asked all my doctors their opinions.
I’ve known oral cancer patients that just had surgery, others surgery and radiation, and even surgery and chemoradiation depending on their cancer stage, and prognastic measures, so it’s difficult to say.
This is 2016 NCCN Head and Neck Cancer Guidelines
https://oralcancerfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/head-and-neck.pdfGood luck
