Roger,

I went through the same thing after an 11 hour surgery and which included removal of the tumor on my tongue, a full neck dissection to remove the lymph nodes in my neck and 4 of 6 saliva glands. I was in no frame of mind to hear that they wanted me to also go through 6 weeks of radiation treatment. But after talking it over with my family and getting a second opinion I did it and I'm glad I did now. I've been cancer free for almost 3 years now.

The radiation treatments were no problem. Some of the side effects during treatment were unpleasant just because it was targeted in my mouth. You will not want to eat much and will be reduced to a soft food diet for a while but it's really not that bad. I went to work everyday during the treatments. Make sure that you get proper medication for the discomfort (I had percocete and an oral rinse that worked very well).

I can honestly say that I have had no lingering effects from the radiation other than dry mouth (which I would have probably had anyway) and slight taste loss. Neither of which has presented any real problems. I do keep a bottle of water with me most of the time for the dry mouth.

As for the numbness from the surgery, I wish I could tell tou that it will go away completely but that hasn't been the case for me. It's much better than it was after surgery but there is still numbness in parts of my neck and on my tongue. It's way batter than the alternative however and it's not that big of an inconvenience.

Good luck and feel free to write me.

Rob