Amy not sure what you ultimately decided but thought I wold add a few things. I had a very similar diagnosis as you 4.5 years ago with local SCC on side of tongue, clean surgical margins and clean nodes. I did not get radiation at the time. Just recently, 3/31/06 I had a recurrence on same side of tongue and had surgery to remove a .5cm tumor which went well. Margins were thin and I am scheduled to start radiation shortly given my narrow margins and recurrence. My one piece of advice to you is if you opt against radiation, make sure you get followed up frequently and don't let them start to spread you out as tme passes. For whatever reason you and I got this in the first place,i was 27 and non-smoker, light drinker, we are obviously at higher risk it can come back so you want to make sure if it does it gets caught early.