Hi all, I'm white male, 46, good physical condition. I recently had surgery to remove a cancerous lump from my upper lip. I also had one lymph node in the right of my neck that had this same cancer in it. I had 17 ,3 stages, of other lymph nodes removed from the right side of my neck and they were all negative.

Because this cancer involved a sweat gland in my upper lip area it is what seems to be fairly rare, porocarcinamo.

I saw an Oncologist yesterday and she recommends 6 weeks of radiation therapy, 5 days a week. I've had all the possible side effects explained to me, and the DR. says because I'm fairly young and in good shape I should suffer very little side effects.

However I have been searching the internet since I got this news and I have read some posts that have me a bit concerned.

Because I will be having head and neck radiation I've looked for people who have had the same ,and some have experience very severe side effects and I wondering if this is worth it or not.

The surgeon removed both cancerous lumps, he took more then needed on my lip, 40% of it to be sure he got it all, he took and extra 17 lymph nodes all were clear, so do I really need this treatment?

The area that will be treated on me will be from the center of my upper lip over to the right side of my neck.