Lee --

Welcome to OCF. You'll get a lot of support and help here.

Be sure to look through the main part of the site, which contains tons of information -- including this discussion of staging (the letters and numbers) and grading (well differentiated, moderately well differentiated, etc.).

The chart on page 6 of the .pdf file referenced on the staging/grading page goes into greater detail and will tell you what that (a) means. (In your case, it's oropharynx. The letter has to do with the extent the cancer has moved into surrounding areas.)

Keep coming back, and encourage your wife and other family members to sign on as well -- there is information here that will help them, too.

All the best,
Leslie

Leslie

April 2006: Husband dx by dentist with leukoplakia on tongue. Oral surgeon's biopsy 4/28/06: Moderate dysplasia; pathology report warned of possible "skip effect." ENT's excisional biopsy (got it all) 5/31/06: SCC in situ/small bit superficially invasive. Early detection saves lives.