Monica, here is US News list of top US hospitals for 2012/13. The big ones for oral cancer are Sloan-Kettering, MD Anderson, Johns Hopkins, and Moffitt.

US New Top Hospitals 2012/13

Cheryl, you posted since my response but thank you for sharing your experience as it is very helpful. My tumor is aggressive. Size wise it borders on t2 i think. It is just at the limits. And from your and Tina's accounts about recovery it isnt as horrible as I imagined. I know it is not a picnic, but I was imagining years and years of rehabilitaion or something. The info you gave me about HPV vs non HPV, responses of each etc. has given me better insight as to what is involved and why. Thank you! Everyone has made me fear surgery less than I did! So glad that you are doing well!

Each CCC is different, but they do follow standardized practices set forth by NCCN, and other professional medical organization's as a guideline. The doctor's expertise, experience, preference is a factor, as is the hospital's, any clinical trials, and type of any technical equipment they utilize like robotics, proton therapy, etc. and the patient's request matters too. You will find many doctor's who have expertise in certain areas in the same speciality. If you want, you can go to the hospital's web page, and see what they offer, including some who have the doctors full background. I also like to go to U.S. News and Buisness report best hospitals to see where they rank in cancer, ENT, and other info, and NCCN, NCI listing of associated CCC, and a google or two to see different comments of patients on various sites about the doctor.

Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Memphis is nationally ranked 7th in ENT, 29th for cancer in the U.S.

I hope this helps.

Yes it does! Thank You.

Monica,sorry you have to come on the roller coaster ride, but I join the others in welcoming you. At this forum, you have a circle of friends who have had all kinds of experience with cancer and who understand thoroughly what you are going through. Do ask whatever questions you have, someone will bound to have some insight. Good luck!

Hi Monica. In my opinion Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center is an excellent medical center. Their ENT department is one of the best in the country. They see people from all over the world and are preferred over Duke for Head and Neck cancers. My husband's doctor is a senior faculty member there and in Castle Connolly's estimation, is among the top 1% in the nation in his specialty. We drive about 300 miles round trip to see him, it's been well worth it. For us, that place has been excellent! I wish you the best.

Monica, you had mentioned UAB in a post on the previous page. If I recall correctly, a couple of OCFers have been treated there. Here's a thread started by one of them -- perhaps you could send the original poster an email or a private message to get more information. UAB is a member of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, whose guidelines are the gold standard for treatment.

[quote=Cheryld]Anyway, I had the works. And recovery from surgery was far easier![/quote]

This was my husband's experience, as well. The surgery (which removed about 1/4 of his tongue) was not exactly a picnic, but he was out of the hospital after 4 days, off his pain medication by about 12 days, and back at work after 2 weeks. Once the swelling went down, right around the 2-week mark, you couldn't tell any difference in his speech. His tongue today even looks much the same as it did before surgery (other than the radiation damage), it just has a little crescent missing.

Hi Monica, I note your consult was Wednesday. Hoping things went well (comparatively speaking of course) for you.

Hi Tina and all. I had an appointment at Wake Forest Comprehensive Cancer Center on Wednesday, 2/20 and things went very well. I am so glad that I wnet there. I am having surgery on March 8 for a partial glossectomy. I got a pet scan too and there were a couple of indeterminate nodes (I thought pet scans could definately tell) but nothing has spread Thank the Lord! They also enrolled me into a clinical trial to take the drug Tarceva until Mar 7, day before surgery as they want to see if it will shrink the tumor. So far my tumor has been shrinking. which is amazing. I am going to post more in the treatment forum-well any questions I may have because I think I am in the wrong forum for this. Thank you for asking Tina, about how it went.