Hello
I am new to this site and have learned a great deal from every brave soul on here. My father has SCC hypopharangeal stage III no lymph node involvement and it did not spread outside his throat. It is a large mass that did spread around the surrounding areas of skin and is very close to his spine. He has had cancer 3 times before once Non Hodgkins Lymphoma in his throat and then back again 5 yrs later in his stomach. then it was about 4 yrs later and he had prostate cancer. All are in remission. He had radiation the first time in his throat and he now had 7 weeks of IMRT radiation for this SCC cancer with erbitux. He tried cisplatin but only handled the first 3 week dose which landed him in the hospital for the 3 weeks. When he got out they switched him to Erbitux and started the radiation. He is done with treatment now for 2 months and he had to go in for a feeding tube. He has to have a J tube since he has no stomach from his previous cancer. In order to get the J tube they had to do a Tracheotomy cause his airway was to small to put a breathing tube down. When the dr did the trach he took a biopsy of the dead tissue left all around his throat and it came back positive for SCC. What I am trying to find out is if the biopsy can come back positive with the cancer still being dead and not live. I asked so many questions that I did get the dr to say it could be dead necrosis cancer that is showing on the biopsy and he wants to wait 2 weeks to see what kind of cells grow, good or if not then cancer ones. Did anyone out there go through this. I know I pulled this one out of a hat and dragged the response I wanted out of the Dr. Just to hear him say we wont know for 2 weeks but honestly if the biopsy is positive I feel like it is still there and live. His throat is still not healed after treatment and since he has scar tissue from the first radiation he now has a tone of it along with swelling from radiation. Is it at all possible that it was to soon to tell. I am not sure I even ever heard of a biopsy after treatment. i remember reading that it can aggrivate the cancer and cause it to become more aggressive. Thank you for you help in advance. I know I wrote alot but it is my first time and I am very upset as my dad is sitting in an ICU unit. If anyone has any questions for me please feel free. I have dedicated my life to this tumor and type of cancer.
Nicole