Hi! My name is Janice and my Husband is Mike. We live in Philadelphia and Mike is a Firefighter. He had stage IVa SCC on his tonsil with 2 Lymph Nodes. He had 39 radiation treatments as well as chemo (cisplatin) and a neck disection. Went back to work in April of 2010 and I'm afraid that we may be dealing with a recurrence and if so, this thing came back pretty fast. We will find out the results of the biopsy this afternoon but his Doctor was fairly certian that it is cancer. We are lucky enough to live around the corner from Fox Chase Cancer center but have considered gettin a 2nd opinion over at the Cancer Treatment Centers of America. Anyone have any experience with them??

Hi and welcome to OCF. I have no experience with Cancer Center of America. If you want a credible second opinion, I recommend HUP (Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania). They have a Head and Neck Cancer Department that is tops. My husband is being treated there for the last 3 years and we have been very happy with his team. You can go to their website, see photos and bios of the docs in that department. There is an 800 number to make an appointment. Three years ago, I found that number was the fastest and easiest way into the appointment system. If you want a name, pm me and I'll be happy to give it to you. All the best to you and your husband.

Anita

Hi Janice. Welcome but so sorry you have to be here. Sorry for all you and your husband have been through. Hopefully the biopsy will be negative. If there is a need for a second opinion, Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, MD is one of the top cancer hospitals in the country. My mom had surgery there for pancreatic cancer. Johns Hopkins is not that far away. Good luck.

Hi Janice,
I too would recommend HUP and have been treated there for SCC amongst other things since 1997. If you would like to know my surgeon, send me a PM.

If it is cancer what is Fox Chase recommending?

Yake care,
Eileen

Janice,

I got my 2nd opinion from UPENN. It was recomended as on of the best in the US. I live and was treated in Michigan, but was told that there are folks at UPENN that are the best, so that's who I got my 2nd opinion from.

OKay, here goes. Mike's biopsy came back NEGATIVE....Hooray, I think. The doctor is actually not satisfied with that. She was so sure that it was cancer. She took his results to the Board of Doctors on the Head and Neck team and they agree with her. She needs to do a laser biopsy to take a LARGE piece and dig deeper. I completely trust her and her instincts and I believe that he is in the best possible hands but I don't know how to feel right now. He will be in the hospital for a week and possibly need a feeding tube for a short time. I feel like I don't know anymore today than I knew yesterday. TOTALLY FRUSTRATED!!!

Congrats on the negative results. You said that you trust the doctors at your current treatment center but I sense some hesitation with their recommendation. How about taking all of his records to a top rated cancer center such as HUP or Johns Hopkins? Im not familiar with what your current team is suggesting, sounds like a fishing expedition. I dont understand how the doc 'knew' your husband had cancer before a biopsy and even with negative biopsy results still 'knows' he has it. I do not have any medical background just have been a patient and active with OCF for over 3 years.

I would say get a second opinion before you let them do the laser biopsy!! My first post treatment scan came back with 5 areas with hypermetabolic activity (positive) areas, and when they did the biopsies all were negative, there was one spot my doc wanted to push the issue more on, so i went for another opinion elsewhere within the same hospital systems and they had all my charts and everything, and the doctor i saw is best in mn for this stuff, and he said not to go further, there are many reasons for hypermetabolic activity, and he was right, i told my original doc that, and he said after thinking for a while that it would be best not to.

I hope they don't put him through the laser biopsy and that also comes back negative!! Biopsies are no fun to have, good to have, but no fun, i can only imagine how a laser one would be.

So hopefully you and your husband will think about second opinion before jumping in with the laser.

Regardless I wish you both the best and that this all comes back negative!!

Thank you guys. Here's the thing. A few months back, Mike started feeling a burning sensation in the back of his throat. Everything including water burns it. He had a routine appt with a radiation oncologist, who was a new guy that we had never met and he said it was just an ulcer. Now since we didn't know this guy and he was really young, I wanted to go see his ENT and see what she thought. She thought the same thing, said it just looked like an Ulcer and gave him sone instructions. TIme kept passing and it wasn't getting any better, he actually punches the table as he swallows because of the pain. Sooooo, we went back to the ENT about a month later and this time she says that it changed, at this point, it's starting to feel hard and more like a tumor so he had a PET scan done and there was uptake in the throat area and that's why she did this biopsy. WHen she came out of surgery to talk to me, she said there is a cherry size tumor on the base of his tongue and also some on his Tonsil, same side as his original cancer.
I don't know if it's my gut or if I'm just paranoid, but I did not feel good about this ulcer from day 1. Sooooo, I know that having this surgery is going to be rough but I'm also afraid that if he doesn't have this surgery, we are going to find out that this is cancer too late. If this is cancer, it came back very fast so I have to assume that it's a pretty aggresive cancer.
Also, Mike has a very high tolerence for pain. HE went through all of his treatments the last time never needing a feeding tube,....I don''t even remember hearing him complain. HE drank 6 insures a day and never complained, he made it look like a walk in the park. Whatever this is...it really hurts him. He's losing alot of weight and not looking too good.

I think her train of thought at this point is...why leave it to chance. Let's be aggressive, get in there, make sure what we are dealing with. Worst case is he does have cancer. Best case scenario is, she goes in to do the biopsy, it comes back negative and whatever that is on his tongue that is so painful, it will be cut out and then he can heal and get back to normal.

D,

2nd opinions are prudent...hands down...before you make ANY decisions to go forward get a second set of eyes on it from a reputable facility (HUP, Hopkins etc...).

Dr's are fallible, PET scans have over a 30% false positive rate and just because there is elevated uptake on the PET doesn't mean it's cancer, it could be inflamation, infection or any number of things. Only a biopsy will tell you if it's cancer or not...and that's come back negative. To me there's no harm in getting the second before you let them start cutting again...in my opinion it's just smart to do so.