Not to belittle medical treatment anywhere but I am very familiar with your location and I want to suggest that you consider going somewhere for a second opinion. I can suggest the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee. My first oral cancer was treated there and my surgeon (Bruce Campbell) is still there; he trained at MD Anderson. They have an excellent department. I had some surgery done in Duluth when the cancer returned 13 years later and when that cancer turned out to be more agressive than orginally thought, my surgeon here sent me to the Mayo clinic. More surgery was done there but even the Mayo docs said there was no reason not to have my radiation done at home (that turned out to be wrong but that's another long story) The difference was that while my local doc has seen many cancer patients he does other things as well. The Mayo doc specialized in head and neck cancer as does the doc I mentioned in Milwaukee. I think its at least worth a trip for a consult. In the end he will have to decide what he feels most comfortable doing but I think it is best to be armed with as much info as possible.