I had a very large lump in the lymph node area located on the right side of my neck midway between my jawbone and collarbone. The lump seemed to appear at the onset of the flu and stayed for four months.
Recently, I had it removed and was stunned to learn it was a squamous cell carcinoma! My throat, esphogas, and vocal cords looked fine. A couple of lymph nodes near the "lump" were clean. The next step is to locate the primary cancer and I will have my tonsil area biopsied and I have an appointment scheduled with doctors to discuss chemo and radiation treatments, which I'm assuming - at this point - will involve a body scan first to determine where this cancer is.
How can they tell if a squamous cell is secondary and what can I expect in terms of survival? I have a list of questions prepared for my next meeting with the doctor but I just want to hear if anyone out there has experienced this kind of cancer - what does it mean?