Young husband battling SCC for third time - 02-25-2009 07:15 PM
Hi all - mainly just want to introduce myself. I am Angie, I have two little boys under 5 and a wonderful husband, Joe (30 yrs old), with no history of drinking, smoking or chewing, or HPV.
Joe's cancer history is as follows:
In July 2006, he had a small sore on the right side of his tongue which turned out to be SCC. At that time, pet/ct showed nothing in regional lymph nodes or chest. They removed the small spot surgically, and that has actually remained clear. In Fall 2007, he noticed a slightly enlarged lymph node on the right side of his neck - it was removed, tested positive for cancer, and they did a radical neck on the right side. 8 nodes were positive. This was followed by Cisplatin and RT to both sides of the neck and mouth -- 2nd opinion from Johns Hopkins suggested same treatment. Finished treatment in April 2008. All scans clear until all of a sudden, in November, a huge golf ball-sized tumor grew within a matter of weeks on the left side of his neck. Biopsy positive for cancer. Too big to remove (about 6mm), so carbo/taxol/erbitux and rt to that side of the neck, which will be followed by surgery - sounds like another radical neck. We are about 3 weeks into treatment. Tumor has shrunk by more than half.
I've been a lurker for a while - thought it was about time to say hi!
One question - all of the info I've been given by our docs is pretty dumbed down. And although I search on the internet, there is tons of stuff out there and it is hard to sift through. For information like statistics and everything, is there one source/website you rely on? I know we can get wrapped up in statistics but I would at least like to know the stuff I am looking at is from a reputable source.
Many thanks!!
Joe's cancer history is as follows:
In July 2006, he had a small sore on the right side of his tongue which turned out to be SCC. At that time, pet/ct showed nothing in regional lymph nodes or chest. They removed the small spot surgically, and that has actually remained clear. In Fall 2007, he noticed a slightly enlarged lymph node on the right side of his neck - it was removed, tested positive for cancer, and they did a radical neck on the right side. 8 nodes were positive. This was followed by Cisplatin and RT to both sides of the neck and mouth -- 2nd opinion from Johns Hopkins suggested same treatment. Finished treatment in April 2008. All scans clear until all of a sudden, in November, a huge golf ball-sized tumor grew within a matter of weeks on the left side of his neck. Biopsy positive for cancer. Too big to remove (about 6mm), so carbo/taxol/erbitux and rt to that side of the neck, which will be followed by surgery - sounds like another radical neck. We are about 3 weeks into treatment. Tumor has shrunk by more than half.
I've been a lurker for a while - thought it was about time to say hi!
One question - all of the info I've been given by our docs is pretty dumbed down. And although I search on the internet, there is tons of stuff out there and it is hard to sift through. For information like statistics and everything, is there one source/website you rely on? I know we can get wrapped up in statistics but I would at least like to know the stuff I am looking at is from a reputable source.
Many thanks!!