Welcome to OCF, sorry that you have to be here.

I'm curious too, why surgery, radiation and chemo at stage I? I was a stage III due to tumor size and I was told that if I was a stage I then surgery only, stage II could have been just surgery or just radiation or both if I wanted it. I was cleared from chemo because my cancer was isolated to the tongue. Radiation was done as a precaution--to nuke any possible cancer cells not detected.

7-16-08 age 37@Dx, T3N0M0 SCC 4.778cm tumor, left side of oral tongue, non smoker, casual drinker, I am the 4th in my family to have H&N cancer
8-13-08 left neck dissection and 40% of tongue removed, submandibular salivary gland & 14 nodes clean, no chemo, IMRTx35
11-4-08 Recovering & feeling better