On 5/14/2008
liltoflaughter wrote:
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?
My husband just completed his radiation treatment after a very similar experience to yours. His surgeon was very persistent and knew exactly where the 'hotspot' was expected to be - in his tonsil area (his tonsils were removed as a child). He finally found the cells and as he described it, it was a "small cancer that they were treating very aggressively". He is four weeks out of radiation and his radiation oncologist has a 90% recovery rate among her patients and they expect him to live a long life. He is now 60. Do be prepared that it is a very rough treatment, but you will read that though by day 20 or so of radiation you won't want to finish treatment - you MUST be strong and get through it. You'll have your life cancer free and your family will thank you for being so brave. My husband opted not to have a feeding tube, so he has lost a lot of weight. His biggest problem was he developed three bouts with Thrush due to his having to take some antibiotics along the way. The effects of the thrush were actually worse than the pain in his throat. And he developed severe mucositis. You will see some of my postings along the way. BUT HE GOT THROUGH IT and yesterday he ate an entire cheesecake! He didn't lose his taste, and his dry mouth is not as severe as some report. He did take mega doses of pain medication. We have to fatten him up, now, he wasn't overweight when he started. He also was given Cetuximab, because he only has one kidney and couldn't go the Cisplatin route. Cetuximab comes with it's own lovely side effects - you don't lose your hair or throw up, you just simply develop the worst case of teenage acne from head to torso for about three weeks! But they told him the more severe the reaction, the better an indicator it is. AGAIN, YOU WILL GET THROUGH THIS, even when you think you won't. Be strong.
We were lucky that we have an outstanding team of doctors at Huntsman Cancer Hospital in Salt Lake City. All of our prayers are with you and your family.
Don't be a stranger to these message boards - it got me and my husband through some very rough patches.
Gwen