Hi Aimee -
I too look for recurrences in this forum, as my husband has had 3 of them, so the subject (and statistics) are of interest to us also. He was first dx in March of 2002, with small lesion in cheek. BTW, he has never smoked or chewed, nor is he a drinker. He is now 61. That was removed, neck dissection - clean nodes. He had skin removed from leg and a bolster holding the graft in place. Because it was small and margins clear, they opted against radiation. It recurred again last year, even smaller and he again had more surgery, removing 2 lower back molars and surrounding tissue. Opted against rads again, because of small size, clear scans and clean margins. Now it popped up again about over a month ago, and by now, I am sure people are thinking that we should have had rads and it would not have reoccured, but his radiologist said that they would have aimed at a different part and he felt that it possibly would have made no difference, because this latest lesion appeared on top this time. Again, his surgery involved losing that top last molar (same side) and tissue...once again, so tiny that margins were clear. The ENT said the lesion was about the size of an "e" in this email. His latest PET and CT scans were clear from lungs to brain to oral cavity, or as they say, "no activity". We still question whether avoiding rads is the right position, but his oncologist, ENT, AND even the RADIOLOGIST said they could see no reason for it at this time because they seem to "get it all" each time. They think each one has been a "primary" tumor. He just had a post-op check-up yesterday and the doctor was very pleased. Anyway, to answer briefly your question, my husband's DID recur, but he never had rads, so only God knows if that's why or it would have come back again anyway. Hope that helps. I hope that yours never returns also. The people in here are the most helpful and supportive group of people I've ever encountered, so their personal journeys and sharing of experiences has been extremely helpful to me and others. I am grateful for Brian and others who founded this site and keep it so chock-full of information and updates.
One last thing, and this is pure conjecture on my part. We ALL wonder what triggers the cell malfunctions. For some odd reason, my husband's all seemed to show up right by a gold filling. Now I know gold is inert and pure, HOWEVER, there are alloys in fillings, and in my OWN mind, I sometimes wonder if something in those fillings irritated and reacted with the chemistry at that spot in his mouth? Those teeth are all gone now, so we shall see if my theory is "swiss cheese" . Our minds continue their "search".