Thank you Karen and everyone...yes...this is certainly a great idea. Its what i need to know..Im not so much worried about the temporary effects (which I will deal with as/if they come) I am fretting more about any permanant effects (eg loss of taste/teeth/permanant facial scarring)
But this thread is a comfort just the same. I dont personally know anyone else who has gone through, or is going through, what Im going through so you guys are great friends to have. Thank you or being so open and honest and I am proud to be a member of this forum and feel lucky to be able to consider you all my new friends. I certainly hope I can offer someone a speck of help at sometime or another.
Im still really scared about the radiotherapy but at least I will have somewhere to come if these horrible things start happening to me.
By the way, can someone tell me what you all mean by "Mouth sores" are they like ulcers? or what? Also what does the mucus do? make you cough? or is it more a "clogging" effect that you have to cough up somehow. Also, is the reason you cant swallow because your throat is swollen...or is it like having a bad case of the flu? Does everyone get some kind of side effect? (well apart from lucky Girl cat!!!) Im sorry to sound like such a pessamist but Im tired already and cant imagine having too much more dumped on me...at the moment I am having some kind of allergic reaction to who knows what? No one can tell me. So I am covered in HUGE itchy whelts that nothing stops...My tongue is still swollen making my speech REALLY annoying even to me (I get tired of people..i know they mean well...saying stuff like "well you are speaking MUCH better this week"...when I dont feel like I am) My wrist skin graft looks like something off the x-files and my chin (where the lymph nodes were taken) is still swollen to different degrees each day ...as is my tongue. So you see, Im just annoyed as Im used to feeing 'normal'...and now i dont anymore...and cant imagine feeling normal again...so will i? does anyone who goes through this ever feel like themselves again?

Anyway thanks so much for giving me, and other scaredy cats like me, somewhere to go.
I wish you all the very best and you are ALL in my prayers tonight. Lots of love from the bottom of my heart Lyn xxx

Tongue Cancer SCC Removal of 2/3 of right side tongue, neck disection-34 lymph nodes removed. flap for new tongue made from left wrist in 2007. Now (mid 2011) speech has been back to normal since early 2009, and Im back working as a singer. So far so good!
2016... Still cancer free! Yay.