In answer to your question about it spreading, yes, time is of the essence here but you still should get at least one more opinion before any big surgery (though I think it can wait until after the biopsy). You should be lining up that opinion at a CCC right now.

Radiation and chemotherapy alone can, in some cases, kill tumors and cancer in affected lymph nodes so they are likely to clean up whatever happens between the biopsy and the next step. But do get a second opinion at a CCC. This is really important--you only get one chance to deal with this the right way and having second thoughts afterwards is not what you want.

Nelie