Hi Kimberly, being scared is par for the course no matter what your age...............cancer scares all of us! My aunt had your type of cancer, the exact same type. She underwent the radiation when I was a kid and she just died from old age (86) last year. She did have dry mouth but not horribly but until someone told me a few years ago about her cancer, I would never have known. She lived a full life after treatments, that's for sure.
Good luck with this. The treatments are touch but needed.
Take care,
Minnie

SCC Left Mandible. Jaw replaced with bone from leg. Neck disection, 37 radiation treatments. Recurrence 8-28-07, stage 2, tongue. One third of tongue removed 10-4-07. 5-23-08 chemo started for tumor behind swallowing passage, Our good friend and much loved OCF member Minnie has been lost to the disease (RIP 10-29-08). We will all miss her greatly.