Does anyone know a pathologist who will look at biopsy slides and give a diagnosis without a bias regarding prior diagnoses? When we received the 2nd opinion, the pathologist was going to refer us for a 3rd opinion but couldn't think of any colleagues who would reverse a cancer diagnosis. Given that my partner already had treatment (2 visits for radiology and two weeks of chemotherapy) it will be nearly impossible to get any pathologist to go near the slides.

My partner was never able to go to the second opinion consult--he had to cancel because of oral surgery and then the RO had to cancel the next appointment. The next available date was longer than the doctors wanted to wait to start treatment.

The second opinion was from an NCI recognized CCC. They assured me that they would not call me to say he didn't have cancer unless they were absolutely certain. Four pathologists looked at the slides and all agreed it wasn't cancer. The director of pathology for the CCC was one of them.

We have major trust issues with the regional hospital where he's receiving treatment. Among some of the red flags that caught my eye was that they sent the pathology to Stanford. They told me that Stanford's pathologists were the best, that the slides were going to their head and neck center, and that they were the leading authorities on SCC HN. I checked the qualifications of the pathologists on the report. The paths were not associated with the Stanford Cancer Center, they were not listed among the doctors in the head and neck group (notice--group, not center) and their areas of research listed nothing to do with diseases of the head and neck let alone SCC HN. The doctor who signed the path report specializes in cardiologic pathology with an emphasis in transplantation pathology. In addition, the RO has behaved very oddly. I should have known that when he got upset that we were getting a second opinion, there was something very wrong with the situation.

I can't bear for my partner (postponed divorce)to endure treatment that will adversely impact him for the rest of his life and will possibly expose him to an unnecessary cancer risk. This whole thing has caused such turmoil with him, our children and myself. We just need an honest answer we can trust--either cancer or no cancer.

The pathology doctor at the CCC said that, unfortunately, once a cancer diagnosis is made, other doctors will rarely reverse the diagnosis and state that someone is cancer-free. I'm hoping someone out there knows of a pathologist who will take on this situation. I feel like Diogenes with his lantern. And, my ex-husband must feel like a man wrongly accused of a crime given a life sentence.