The way I understand it the stages are determined by number of metastases. My husband was dx stage III because he had the primary (base of tongue stage one) and 2 lymph nodes (stage 2 one node, stage 3- 2 nodes, and stage 4 would be more nodes or other metastases).

This was how the oncologist explained it to me when I asked. So stage one means that there is a primary source and no metastases.

Anyone feel free to correct me if I am wrong. I really did not look it up, just took the docs word for it.

As for the sleeping alot, it is not unusual for any surgery to cause a body to shut down for long periods of time. Sleeping is one of the ways the body heals itself and, depending on the amount of trauma the body feels as a result of the surgery, it will take as much sleep as it needs to rebuild and recover itself.

I would monitor him though and ask the doctor about how long it should take for him to start feeling any improvement. At least that way you can have what I call panic points. Points that define when to worry and when to call the doc, when to adjust something and when to push him to do things, etc. By knowing the things to watch for I find that I worry a whole lot less about what is happening because I am always aware of what is considered critical.

I hope that maybe this helps a little.

Cindy