Brett,
What a horrible decison to have to make. You can see my history in my signature.

The one thing I asked for before I opted for the surgery was a PET scan to make certain this hadn't escaped to other areas. I did not want to undergo a total laryngectomy to find out I had termianl cancer eleswhere. They didn't re-irradiate in those days so my only other option was chemo to shrink it. Since I was stage 1, they felt surgery would leave me cancer free and thus far 4 years later has. My situation was much less dire than yours.

Why do they feel your odds are so poor even if you undergo surgery? What is the difference in your odds if you have chemo alone or with re-irridiation and no or limited surgery. And if you make it the two years, what are your long term odds for survival? All questions which they can't answer with accurancy but things I would want to consider before undergoing that debillitating a surgery. Do they think you will be able to talk or eat after all this is done? What a scary set of decisions you have to make. My heart goes out to you.

Keep us posted on what the doctors think and what you decide.

Take care,
Eileen