Hello all,

I have been very encouraged by all of your posts and of your overall optimistic outlook. I finally decided to get the courage up to register and participate in the forums so that hopefully, I can receive some of that optimisim when I might need it and help add my own encouragement when someone else is in need.
Our background. My husband of 29 yrs(healthy 47yr old, Never smoked,or chewed and only occasional beer at the weekend BBQ kind of drinker) was diagnosed w/SCC the first time in 2005. He had a small area on the left anterior portion of his tongue. It was suprisngly superficial and all screening of the rest of his mouth, neck and throat appeared clear. He had surgery on his tongue and tests post-op confirmed SCC with the margins clear. follow up treatments (radiation, chemo) were discussed but we decided to hold off at this early stage. We were put on frequent checkup appt's and all went well until November 2007.
End of November 2007 my husband noticed the same tell-tale signs in the same area of his tongue as the previous surgery. December 7th 2007 he had another surgery on the left anterior portion of his tongue. Post-op findings. Same. SCC with margins clear. All PET scans and other tests remained clear. This time we had even more intense conversations on following up with radiation and chemo my husband hx was submitted to the hospitals radiation board for review and recomendations. We talked to our surgeon and ENT and our radiation Dr. Overall the stats and opinions were split even with the board of radiologists. After much soul searching we opted for holding off.
In late June of 2008 my husband noticed a lump in his left neck that was tender to the touch. He went directly to his Dr. and had all the usual scans and labs and biopsy. The tests confirmed SCC in the left lymph nodes. He saw his surgeon on Monday for evaluation and ended up in surgery on Tuesday July 8th. They removed 3 nodes the surrounding tissue and a portion of two layers of his muscle in his neck. All his nerves, salavary glands and tyroid are intact. They did remove his tonsils.(Only as a precautinary measure because they appeared inflammed. They tested clear) Test results post-op revealed of the 3 nodes removed 2 were cancerous and the tissue removed around the nodes had clear margins He has healed from the surgery and has had his teeth cleaned and 3 top molars removed 2 on the left and one on the right. 2 were crowns and one had decay. They advised it was better to have them out now then to have to worry about any problems in the future with them after radation and chemo. We agreed.
Hubby flew through all his surgeries. But I must say the last 18 days since he had those teeth removed has been a rollcoaster. Whew! They have been the most trying days so far and I'm so very glad it seems we are getting that chapter in our book behind us! ~deep sigh of relief~
So here we stand ready and willing to start treatment tomorrow (radiation and chemo) so we can get this over and get back to our everyday life. Third time's the charm! Right? ~grin~

I'm looking forward to chatting with y'all and send all of you my best wishes.

Ija