Michelle, I was diagnosed in January with case very similar to your husbands. Right lateral side of the tongue - SCC. Non-smoker and non-drinker and 29 years old. Mine was a stage 2 for size of tumor and no lymph nodes were involved. I had only resection and lymph node neck dissection. I did not have radiation - although I did get the consult appointment just to make sure - that everyone was on the same page. I hit my 6 month mark yesterday and am doing fine. My ENT does not feel that mine was caused by HPV - nor does another highly published ENT in the field. I read the (entire - and long) article that Gail Mac posted and it states very clearly that the findings for mobile tongue cancer were that HPV DID NOT CAUSE most of the cases. Something like only 2 out of 98 cases even tested positive for HPV - and they found that could have been a coincidence. However, the findings were different for base of tongue cancers. Those had a 40% or so correlation with being HPV positive. (I'm going off memory hear - so don't hold me to these figures)

Just focus on him getting better - there is no one to blame. You are not responsible for it - it's just one of life's hurdles that has been thrown at you. Good luck. Find a doctor who you trust and is knowledgeable about head and neck cancer. I did not go to a CCC - but have a doctor who was trained at one - and he is the absolute best. Good luck.