Here's my take. I was borderline stage I/II tongue cancer tumor with no lymph node involvement (according to PET and CT scans as well as doctor's manual examinations). My cancer was well-differentiated.

My docs recommended radiation, but said that in my case it was typically consider optional because of the stage. I went ahead and did it because of the threat of microscopic cancer cells that may have escaped passed the margins.

Well, even though I had radiation, my tumor came back in my lymph nodes, just below the area where they radiated. In other words, there was microscopic cells that slipped into my lymph nodes undetected (smaller than what shows up on the scans). Since that area wasn't blasted with radiation, it regrouped and regrew there...

Basically, from all I've learned and read, you want to be as AGGRESSIVE as possible early in the game with this type of cancer. Even though I went the aggressive route, we weren't aggressive enough in that the docs chose not to radiate the whole neck. I would go for a second opinion, but I also would consider taking the most aggressive route now to save yourself the headache of what I'm going through -- which is now another round of radiation and possibly chemo as well to wipe it out for good this time (if we can)...

Getting through radiation is no picnic but it's doable... Good luck to you...


Tongue cancer (SCC), diagnosed Oct. 2003 (T2 N0 M0). Surgery to remove tumor. IMRT Radiation 30x in Dec 2003 - Jan. 2004. Recurrence lymph node - radical neck dissection June 2004. Second round of rad/chemo treatments ended Sept. 2004.