Ron, welcome to the site. Sorry you had to find us. I had tonsil cancer which is not the same as yours, but the treatments are similar so I think I can comment and be relevant to your concerns. I had chemo (ciplatin) and rad prior to surgery to try and shrink the tumor in my lymph node. It had traveled from the tonsil to the node. After 6 weeks, I had the surgery to remove the lymph nodes and the post-surgical biopsy showed all of the cancer had been killed by the rad/chemo. The chemo also went throughout my body destroying any small bits of cancer that was trying to find a new home, I hope. So far, so good. The side effects of the chemo/rad/surgery has not been too bad. My taste is very poor, my dry mouth requires an H2O bottle, and my shoulder has some limitations. But I would do it again in a heart beat to insure the cancer was destroyed. This disease is very unforgiving and doing everything possible to defeat it is, in my opinion, the only way to go. As my surgeon said, if it was him, he would learn to operate left handed rather than not do everything he could to make sure the cancer was gone. Will pray for guidance to the right decision.