Hi Pam, your situation sounds so similar to mine. Biopsy, MOHS (with 6 passes, it had gone into the muscle) ostensibly clear margins, BUT here is where our story differs. I had immediate reconstructive surgery 5 days later. The hole was under my eye, and very deep. About a month after surgery I had shooting pains. Extreme pain, would last seconds to minutes and felt like an electric shock I had as many as 15-20 in a day. The pain was excruciating. The reconstructive surgeon initially ignored it, thinking it was from tight sutures, but actually the cancer had apparently "skipped" and entered the intraorbital nerve. They found the tumor with an MRI, but the resection that followed could not remove all the cancer, which had entered the brain. Stage 4 SCC with PNI. What followed was 6 weeks 2 x's per day of the most aggressive possible proton therapy and targeted chemo (cetuximab). It's been 3.5 years now and thankfully, I am still in remission. The radiation saved my life.

Please go forward with the radiation treatment! Yes, you want to live. I have had issues with healing, because I could not wait after they found the PNI. But I healed from the reconstructive surgery (and also from the following surgeries due to the aggressive radiation side effects -- closed tear duct, blocked nostril, skin infections) much better than expected. My left eye is slightly smaller than my right. I don't breathe as easily in my left nostril. But I am alive. If you can wait to have the radiation, get the surgery and follow up with treatment, just like you are planning. Maybe proton therapy will be helpful for you. It is more targeted and less harmful to surrounding tissue.

I wish you well and am sending you strength and courage. You are going forward in the right way and you will heal. My deepest sympathies, a.