I am a caregiver to my husband. I was on this board 2yrs ago and found great solace and info. Lost the password and just started again. My husband and best friend, had his original laryngectomy in 1996. 20+ lymph nodes removed. He was doing very well until June 2005. He felt that something was stuck while swallowing and food would hang up on that spot. The VA wanted to do a surgery and remove his right tonsil. The lesion was infact behind the right tonsil and was extensively biopsied by a doctor outside the VA. He then had IMRT radiation combined with internal radiation delivered through a device placed in his throat. Don't know all the technical terms. Again he was doing better and scans showed nothing worrisome. In April of this year he complained of a sore spot that food got hung up on. The Rad/Onc put him on 2 rounds of antibiotics that seemed to help. There was just this place that wouldn't heal. The last Rad/Onc appointment in June a "polyp" was detected. He returned to the VA for a biopsy and CT scan and the results were inconclusive. On July 16 he had a huge hemorrhage out of his mouth and we took him to the VA ER. At that time head/neck chest x-rays were taken. A week after that he had further biopsies taken, and they returned positive for SCC. It took a while for the CT scans and biopsies to be looked at by ENT surgeons as they are short on staff. What we were told was that there is no "tumor" but a moderate to poorly differentiated area and it was in the muscle tissue. In addition there was no possible surgery as his right carotid artery was completely surrounded as well as the cancer cells being too close to his vertebral artery and subclavian artery. They suggested palliative radiation and hospice. He is still eating soft things and is on pain meds every 4hrs. I'm sorry this is so long but I am afraid that if I start to cry I won't stop. Any suggestions would be welcomed.