Hi Karyn,

When you say that the 'head doc' met with the other docs, is this a team of different specialists, like an ENT, an oncologist, radiation oncologist, etc? Usually, each specialty thinks his treatment is the best route. There are a number of posts on the forum that tend to argue that you want to hit this disease as hard as possible the first time with a multimodal course of treatment, so that there won't be a second time.

If you do have radiation, you should ask your doctors about combining the radiation with chemo. Recent studies indicate that the combination of radiation with chemo is more effective than radiation alone. See the news story:
http://www.oralcancerfoundation.org/news/story.asp?newsId=809
as an example. You can also do a search of the OCF site for more information.

Also, to quote Brian Hill from one of his recent postings
"there are different kinds of chemo. The one they are likely referring to is to make the cancer cells more vulnerable to the radiation. This is different than the kinds of chemo they give you for distant mets. Chemo and radiation together have good outcomes in the published data. I'm a proponent of hitting it with everthing that is available. This disease is very unforgiving of half-measures, and you want to eliminate it completly the first time around. While others may disagree with me, I'm an advocate of the biggest hammer type of treamtment...if you can tolerate it, let them do it."

Hope this is of some help. Best wishes for a successful treatment. - Sheldon