I could be wrong on this, but it's my understanding that the 'survival' threshold is actually based on five years without cancer. No guarantees about any of this, it's all based on statistics, but no one knows what factors are really important when selecting a representative population.

That's part of the reason for my look forward, not back, attitude (Anyone read about the fictional Joe Pike? A can-do guy with a red arrow pointing forward tattooed on each bicep -- I occasionally consider having them done myself!).

My late brother-in-law was a radiologist (Who died of side effects from treatment for Hodgkins Lymphoma -- His big regret was that he got it early enough that the current cures weren't available but he could see them coming -- Had he had the same thing ten years later, he'd likely be alive today) and we were discussing my mother's inoperable lung cancer -- Her Docs gave her only a month or so to live, but she lasted 1 1/2 years -- It's all really sophisticated guesswork when you get down to the bottom of it.

Charm, I don't know if you got this far back in your readings, but here's the link to my first free-flap experience, which sounds a lot like what you will be going through (except no bone-splitting was involved in my case).

http://oralcancersupport.org/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=75331&page=all

Don't forget to ask for ear plugs in the ICU to get some rest!

The PEG is really only optional for the chemo-radiation treatment -- Being a fundamentally lazy guy, I might hang on to mine for a while, at least until my food tastes come back because eating without the enjoyment is actually a bit of a chore -- Keeping up with my swallowing, of course -- Actually, growing difficulty and pain in swallowing was really what led me to discover this most recent cancer lurking away in the background.