Had tongue surgery for squamous cell carcinoma 10/24/22. Tumor was 3 mm and was considered to be stage 1. PET scan was clean no node involvement my cancer was listed at stage one. Biopsy report from primary tumor showed no evidence of blood or lymph invasion but there was perineural. Recommendation was to remove high grade dysplasia left on tongue then have radiation just went in for first radiation appointment and they felt a swollen node. Not sure if this could be left over from recovery of second surgery. The node shrinks in size after a hot bath and also is painful which are 2 things a cancerous node does not typically do correct ? Waiting to find out what this is and what to do about it any feedback is appreciated. They didn’t do a biopsy on the nodes because they felt I had a low immediate risk factor and that the radiation would take of any left over cells any ideas?