Hello, welcome to OCF. Im so glad you have found this site. I was in your situation, twice. My children were older than yours, 15 and 17 the first time I went thru it. I had 2 recurrances, and luckily, Im still here to tell about it.

First, why are you having a PET scan for a suspicious area? A PET scan is a very expensive procedure that usually is done after a biopsy to help determine how advanced the cancer is. PET scans are notorious for lighting up for an inflamation and giving false positives. Do you know why your doctor isnt doing a biopsy? Thats the only way to tell if its really cancer.

I wouldnt tell the kids anything til I had a treatment plan in place. That is, IF it is cancer. Its not cancer til the biopsy says it is. There isnt any reason to get the kids scared at this point. They are young and already have gone thru it once, Im sure they would be terrifyed to know it may have come back.

Are you being treated at a cancer center? Thats where doctors all get together and go over your case and together come up with a treatment plan. Sure sounds like you got off pretty easy the first time around. I hope you never have to go thru chemo and radiation. Thats alot harder than recovering from surgery.

For tobacco users, they have a higher recurrance rate than HPV patients. I unfortunately was a stupid person and had smoked. I quit immediately after the OC diagnosis.

Please keep us posted. Wishing you the best.