Husband had appt. with ENT today to decide on treatment for his newest SCC on his lip. Turned out it was so "new", they termed the cancer "in situ" (I guess that is stage 0). It was different from the ones inside the oral cavity - they feel this one is from earlier sun damage to his lip. He doesn't see need for further treatment, however we will be seeing the "BIG gun" ENT at Shands in Gainesville in a couple weeks, for a second opinion. We learned something interesting however. The ENT was telling us about a patient of his who has had oral cancer 30 times!! She was first diagnosed at age 55 and is now 78 and has had 30 surgeries for it! eek She was a smoker and continued thru her later years until she was diagnosed with emphysema and then quit. I don't know if any of you have ever heard of having it that many times - I know it was certainly NEWS to us.
JaneP

Husband: 3 SCC gum and cheek cancers 2002, 2005, 2006: surgery only. Scans clear after removal of small, well differentiated, non-invasive cancers. No radiation. 4th SCC lip diagnosed 4/13/07 - in situ, removed in biopsy. More lip removed 2/8/08 - dysplasia. 2 Biopsies 3/17/09 no cancer (lichenoids)