"Above & Beyond" Member (300+ posts) Joined: Feb 2004 Posts: 372 | Hey Lisa, Dan was stage 2/3 and with the partial glossectomy that did modified neck dissections on both sides. We were told there was nothing found in the lymph nodes and didn't need radiation. Exactly 4 months later Dan develops a very agressive neck tumor, gets a radical neck dissection where they took about everything and couldn't get all the cancer (wrapped around carotid and jugular). This is so not to scare you because his was probably way more aggressive. My point is we were told no radiation needed and we found out only a few nodes were taken from each side. We were at a local hospital then and fortunately was at that point transferred to the University of Maryland Medical Center and have gotton very good treatment there. If I had found this board sooner or been at a comprehensive cancer center, I know that would have taken many more nodes and would have recommended heavily that Dan have rad after his initial partial glossectomy. Hope this helps...just get more than one opinion from a CCC. Take care, Debbie
Debbie - Caregiver for husband, Dan, diagnosed with tongue cancer 7/03. Partial gloss., mod. neck dissections, graft. Recurrence neck tumor 12/03. Radical left neck dissection 12/24/03-unable to get all the tumor. 8 weeks chemo/rad beginning 1/12/04.
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