When my mom first found the sore on her tongue, neither she nor the oral surgeon thought it serious. (She had something similar 10 years ago, it was removed in the doc's office, end of story.) She waited a month or so to have this one biopsied because of my niece's wedding -- just in case there was more to this one than before. As soon as she had the biopsy, she started having a lot of pain, was unable to wear dentures, eat, etc. Pathology came back saying it was malignant, but oral surgeon still said, "No problem, we just need to take a little more tissue." Within a few weeks she had unbearable pain, was sent to the ENT who knew it was serious and sent her to MUSC (Charleston) to meet with a surgeon. The surgeon wanted to remove large portion of tongue, section of jaw, and some lymph nodes plus reconstruction. This was really the only course of treatment he offered. After hearing about the recovery time, she decided against it because of her age (76), a pre-existing heart condition, etc. She thought death would be easier. A few weeks later as the pain intensified, she saw an oncologist to see if there were other options. This led to the rad/chemo. The oncologist never gave good odds of the rad/chemo being successful, but felt it was worth a try. She's not sorry she refused surgery. She doesn't think she (or my dad) could have made it through that ordeal.