...and my husband has SCC. I never imagined that our lives could change so much in such a short amount of time.

Back in July my husband, Ariel, noticed an enlarged lymph node, which was treated with 3 rounds of antibiotics. It reduced in size, but never completely went away. In September he underwent a CT scan, then on 9/28 he had the node removed.

That was the day that my 44 year old, non-smoking, non-drinking powerlifting health nut husband with a 52 inch chest and 19 inch biceps was diagnosed with cancer. Ironic, huh? Cancer doesn't care who you are.

He had his tonsils removed on 10/3, along with many biopsies taken at that time. No primary was found.
We traveled to UVA to consult with Dr. Reibel there, who advised radiation and no neck disection or chemo.

Here we are a month later - today is day 14 of 33 radiation treatments. I have lurked here for a couple of weeks, educating myself from your experiences. I am so grateful to those of you who have shared your stories - I have gained so much insight and knowledge that doctors and literature haven't supplied.

Each day is harder and harder for us. We are reaching a point where taste and nausea issues are interfering with nutrition, and I have never been more scared in my life. So far hubby has had no mouth or other pain, just the loss and altering of taste, fatigue and nausea.

I have been reading about the link between HPV and oral cancer. I had cervical dysplasia 15 years ago, and it seems too incidental that my husband has developed oral cancer. Have any of you approached your doctors about submitting tumor samples to John Hopkins for testing? Not a single doctor has mentioned the HPV link to us - one more thing I'm grateful to this site for. We would like to know if my husband's tumor tests HPV positive, if only for the small comfort of knowing that these tumors respond more readily to treatment and have less chance of recurrance.

I check in here several times a day, and I apologize for waiting so long to jump in. I just have felt so overwhelmed and emotional that I didn't know if I could
open up and let anyone in.

Karen

Wife & caregiver to Ariel,who was diagnosed with SCC on 9/28/07 - unknown primary. Rads began 10/31/07, with no planned neck dissection or chemo. 29 down,4 to go!