Hi Sabrena,
I am also new to the forum, but such good news that the cancer was T1 and that they were able to cut it out with clear margins! I would definitely seek a second opinion! I did not have one because I really trusted my ENT who basically talked me OUT of surgery and just have the radiation as she felt I'd end up with radiation anyway due to neck dissection not being safe enough margins to prevent it). This was also the recommendation of my tumor board (so in a way, I had multiple opinions.) And time was of the essence. I did not want to wait too long--I wanted this thing OVER with before it spread or grew! But some of the side effects as doctors described them to me ended up being more of a loss than the docs presented. (Example dry mouth.) Lucky for me, I have half my salivary glands still. Sometimes we don't have a choice, but I suppose second opinions help in this area too.
One thing I learned along the way: my second opinion would have been in Boston, whereas my team was local in Portland. As such, my insurance would not have covered it as "in network" and thus would have resulted in much higher charges. (Just throwing that out as I would never have considered that factor at such an early stage of the health insurance maze.) So make sure you talk with your health insurance company first! My spouse's employer also offered Consumer Ally as an employee benefit. They are basically an independent service that helps get you specific info on your doctor's expertise, if they have had any malpractice issues, and they offered some other really good info too. Not sure if you have something like that but worth checking out.
As for the diet, there are many cancer cookbooks out there. One in particular, The Essential Cancer Treatment Nutrition Guide & Cookbook by Lamantia & Bernstein, focused on healthy recipes (including for cancer prevention moving forward) where a lot of others seemed more focused on pleasing the palate (full of sweets and fats, etc.) It was organized by side effects, too, and of all of the cancer cookbooks we consulted, it seemed to offer the recipes I liked best. (Salmon and haddock were among my favorite main course choices from ease of eating and least offensive after my taste buds went wonky from radiation. ) I don't know about Chinese medicines, etc. but I bet someone else on this forum does!
Good luck to you!!