Jeff,
You will see post after post of people who have been in your shoes. You are not alone. If you are like the rest of us you are terrified right now. Trust me when I say that will get better with time. My father was diagnosed with this same cancer in January of this year and I remember telling myself it had to be a mistake, my father is one of the healthiest people I know. They thought my father's cancer was in his tonsils as well but upon removal the tonsils showed no cancer eventhough he to had presented with a lump in the left side of his neck. He went on to have a modified neck dissection, they removed all of the lymph nodes in his neck and determined two of them to have cancer. They never have found the primary source eventhough they believe it could have been tonsils or base of tongue. My father is 4 months out of treatment still struggling some with eating but getting better every day. Has many have said on this forum it is not an easy journey but treatment is doable. Many before you on this forum have done this and are doing great just like oldbayboy. I have only been a part of this forum since the beginning of this year but have heard your same fear in many of us when we post for the first time and wonder how we are going to get through this. You will Jeff, so many on this forum will be of help to you. Keep posting, keep reading, ask questions of doctors and know that eventhough you will find similiarities in people's treatments you will also find everyone's situation is different. I know there are other members on the forum who have been treated at a VA hospital who can probably be of help to you in that area. My father wasn't willing to travel the distance for a major CCC hospital so we worked with several small town hospitals and doctors and that is where this forum was of great help to me as I could gain first hand knowledge from those who had been treated at a CCC. Ask any question Jeff I and everyone else will be here as you need us. My parents are close to Evansville, Indiana.
Take care
Kim