Hi:

I'm a 41 year old female, I live with my 43 year old male partner, our two year old and our (one each) teenagers from previous marriages.

After much nagging from me and foot dragging from him, he finally had a biopsy of a lesion on his lip which came back last week as Grade I, well differentiated squamous cell carcinoma. The visible lesion right now is about the size of a dime. Four doctors have palpitated his neck lymph nodes and declared them fine. He is getting a chest x-ray. He's in the process of consulting with two plastic surgeons and will choose one to do the resection within the next week or two.

My concerns revolve largely around his getting appropriate treatment to ensure that the chances of it spreading or recurring are as low as possible. I'm not finding alot of info on SCC of the lower lip...it seems to live in a "nowhere land" between skin cancer and oral cancer. My gut instinct is that it has more to do with oral cancer because his is on the inside part of his lip.

He's been taking it pretty well in general, I know he's distressed at the extent of the probably surgery (1/3 of lower lip and some tissue down into his chin is the "best case" scenario), but, unless something unexpected comes up at resection, no one is suggesting radiation at this point. He has quit smoking, but has been very eager to blame his cancer on everything BUT cigarettes (including me!)...I'm hoping this phase will pass as he comes to grips with it and is ready to take a little responsibility for his smoking (I've smoked too and know how hard it is to quit, so I'm NOT judgemental about this!).

I guess what I'm looking for is any advice on whether SCC of the lower lip belongs here and what people would suggest for further diagnostic testing...all that's been suggested so far is the resection with examination of the margins and a chest x-ray.

Thanks!

K