David,

My mom also had what her doctor called a recurrance after the first surgery. Very close to the original tumor but both my sister and I swear it was there all along. She did not get the radiation and chemo the first time around and had to endure a second surgery before the radiation and chemo.

I still think there is a possibility of IMRT for you but the radiation oncologist will know best. My mom who after her surgery with scans showed no cancer and they used IMRT to salvage saliva glands etc. With her IMRT they radiated her facial area on both sides (even though the tumors only came up on the right side) and her entire neck both sides all the way down to her breast bones. They just heavily concentrated on the area where the tumors had come up and gave those an extra strong zapping and those are the areas she had the most problems with after and during treatment but I'm pleased to say that almost 4 months after treatment she is doing well and just had a clean PET/CT scan.

I personally think that going through surgery twice for her and for us as family members sucked but there are people on the site that only had surgery and never had a recurrance. So its not really a question that can be answered as to whether or not you should get radiation.

My prayers are with you....
Dani