Hey John,
My husband had stage 2/3 tongue cancer, had modified neck dissection, nodes were negative (although found out later that only a few nodes were taken)...oral surgeon said no need for radiation due to clean margins and negative nodes. Not even 4 months later Dan woke up with a "swollen gland" which turned out to be a very aggressive neck tumor. It was never determined to be in his nodes, but in his carotid and jugular. So, just make sure you get all scans necessary and get informed opinions. We had to act so fast and I was not familiar with this board at the time, so we were not referred to a comprehensive cancer center until after Dan's radical neck dissection where they couldn't get all the tumor. Had I known more, we would have started out with a tumor board and a team of docs, not just an oral surgeon who had not seen much oral cancer in his young life...you live and learn!

You are in my prayers and God bless you and your family as you get informed and made some hard decisions.

Debbie