747, hope you are doing OK.
Christine's advice is golden.
Best to educate yourself as much as possible, and take advice from Oncologists who have experience with SCC.
So I wouldn't give you exact treatment yes or no, but pass along some things that I learned along the way.
The treatment is very much based on some sort of decision guide the Oncologists have, so I don't think many would deviate from that.
As far as "finding" all of the cancer, I don't think that is really 100% possible, because of the way it travels though the lymphatic system. Just my opinion, as I had two surgeries to find my primary cancer, after my cancerous lymph node was removed. They never found any other cancer, so I had the radiation and chemo protocol.
If you have a HPV P16 SCC, the radiation /chemo protocol has a very high historical success rate.
I have not read about any reduced radiation and chemo protocol. I think they pretty much go with almost the same protocol, give or take a few treatment days. Usually it's around 33 days.
With 3 large doses of chemo, or 7 smaller doses, to boost the effectiveness of the radiation.
I understand your thoughts to avoid radiation, there is no way to sugar coat it.
I wanted to skip the last few radiation treatments, until my Oncologist told me how much recurrence stats change with each missed treatment.
I figured, I went this far, including all the tests and surgeries, so why not just force myself through it.
If you decide to do both Chemo and Radiation, it's best to go to a facility that does both. It makes things so much easier. One day a week, I had my radiation after having the chemo that day.
Best wishes.
Mike