Just Diagnosed Squamous Cell Carcinoma of Neck with unknown primary

Skiffin16

Terry Stephens said:

Please feel free to contact me
Thank you everyone for your warm greeting! U of M has a super staff and were great!!! They do have some UofM cancer treatment centers that are central in the state of Mich. I had all 3 surgery,Radiation, and chemo. The main surgery was done at the main Hospital in Ann Arbor, and my chemo and radiation were done in Mt. Pleasant under a U of M treatment center. Ill try to figure posting my story on the super Thread. Please feel free to e-mail me at stephensterry@yahoo.com if I can be of any help about treatment and the steps in which I went through. Or private message Im new so Ill try to figure that out either way Im retired and Im around online most of the time.

SuperThread
Hi Terry...

The SuperThread is just for informational purposes, so please don't post on it. It's a thread we are trying to get pinned at the top of the forum, so you don't have to search for it.

But also one that stays clean from posts so it only has the links and information readily available for newbies to the forum and cancer treatment and the more vintage survivors such as yourself.

Thanks,
John

Tim6003

Skiffin16 said:

SuperThread
Hi Terry...

The SuperThread is just for informational purposes, so please don't post on it. It's a thread we are trying to get pinned at the top of the forum, so you don't have to search for it.

But also one that stays clean from posts so it only has the links and information readily available for newbies to the forum and cancer treatment and the more vintage survivors such as yourself.

Thanks,
John

cureitall...
No problem. I am not a doctor only a survivor...but I will do what I can, you are welcome anytime to contact me.

John's (Skiffin16) Superthread is a GREAT resource. You can also find some great articles and information at the oral canccer foundation website. This site (ACS) is my favorite for personal experiences and information first hand from survivors. The OCF site has good medical articles I enjoy learning from.

That website is www.oralcancerfoundation.org


Best,

Tim

Terry Stephens

Skiffin16 said:

SuperThread
Hi Terry...

The SuperThread is just for informational purposes, so please don't post on it. It's a thread we are trying to get pinned at the top of the forum, so you don't have to search for it.

But also one that stays clean from posts so it only has the links and information readily available for newbies to the forum and cancer treatment and the more vintage survivors such as yourself.

Thanks,
John

SuperThread
Thanks for the heads up John , I had looked it over already and understood it wasnt to be posted on, and found information there on how to use the site and post on my profile. Lots of great information there it should help many in their Journey

Skiffin16

Tim6003 said:

cureitall...
No problem. I am not a doctor only a survivor...but I will do what I can, you are welcome anytime to contact me.

John's (Skiffin16) Superthread is a GREAT resource. You can also find some great articles and information at the oral canccer foundation website. This site (ACS) is my favorite for personal experiences and information first hand from survivors. The OCF site has good medical articles I enjoy learning from.

That website is www.oralcancerfoundation.org


Best,

Tim

Awesome...
And for the record..., It's my good sister from a different mister that created and maintains the SuperThread.

Dawn - Sweetblood22 and her loving side kick, Nizzy her Chinese Crested....

I only helped her by showing her a little HTML code and how to do the links....

She took off with ot like a woman on a mission, LOL....

Hard to believe that she initially did it all on her iPhone as her internet connection was lacking.

JG

Isign4Him

prepare your self
Hi , I was diagnosed with sqaumous cell carinoma of the left tonsil with speading to the lymph nodes on both sides of my neck. Much like your loved one I had a large lump on my neck and it was treated with antibiotics for 10 days. Fortunately for me, my PA told me if it wasnt gone in 10 days to see my Primary. Ten days passed and still there so I went to my primary who immediately sent me to an ENT for a biopsy. Came back positive stage 4.I just finished my 2nd cycle of chemo. I suggest that you tell your loved one to prepare themselves. As soon as I was diagnosed I had a PORT put in and a Mic-Key-Button placed. The port is worth its weight in gold and I highly recomend it. The Mic-Key-Button is for feeding and hydration. I was fortunate and only lost 12 pounds in my first cycle and only a couple in the 2nd. There are lots of caring people on here and a wealth of information, just ask. It is a little scary at first but you have to maintain a positive attitude, thats half the battle! This kind of cancer is curable and there is lots of support here and prayer here. If I had a name I would pray for your loved one. The best piece of advice I was given on here was, "beating the cancer is easy, beating the treatment is the challenge" so prepare, prepare, and stay positive.Good luck and know you are not alone

In Christ, Kevin

cureitall66

Isign4Him said:

prepare your self
Hi , I was diagnosed with sqaumous cell carinoma of the left tonsil with speading to the lymph nodes on both sides of my neck. Much like your loved one I had a large lump on my neck and it was treated with antibiotics for 10 days. Fortunately for me, my PA told me if it wasnt gone in 10 days to see my Primary. Ten days passed and still there so I went to my primary who immediately sent me to an ENT for a biopsy. Came back positive stage 4.I just finished my 2nd cycle of chemo. I suggest that you tell your loved one to prepare themselves. As soon as I was diagnosed I had a PORT put in and a Mic-Key-Button placed. The port is worth its weight in gold and I highly recomend it. The Mic-Key-Button is for feeding and hydration. I was fortunate and only lost 12 pounds in my first cycle and only a couple in the 2nd. There are lots of caring people on here and a wealth of information, just ask. It is a little scary at first but you have to maintain a positive attitude, thats half the battle! This kind of cancer is curable and there is lots of support here and prayer here. If I had a name I would pray for your loved one. The best piece of advice I was given on here was, "beating the cancer is easy, beating the treatment is the challenge" so prepare, prepare, and stay positive.Good luck and know you are not alone

In Christ, Kevin

Thank you for your reply...
Kevin,

Thank you for sharing your story. It means so much to get the information from others and know you are not alone. We're waiting for the Pet Scan to get done this week and getting our plan of action and stage as well. Hoping for some quick, mind settling results. Right now it's sounding like base of tongue is primary with one lymph node(seondary) involved (both on same side). During the biopsy of tongue, it was not seen to be anywhere nearby. So we're hoping it has stayed regionalized in that area as ENT suspects. Thank you for your prayers. We will keep you in ours as well.

I cannot wait for this world to have a CURE FOR ALL CANCERS! I hope I live to see it. I'm in my second year of RELAY FOR LIFE and never thought we'd be close to the word cancer than that, but all the more reason to RELAY as far as I'm concerned.

God Bless

Amy614

Skiffin16 said:

SuperThread
Terry, since you mentioned some of what you went through...which is similar to what many of us have. Though the PICC is not uses as much these days I beleive for chemo delivery as the Power Port.

Many of us here compiled a SuperThread that offers a lor of the descriptions and processes that we have all gone through.

It offers tons of links and suggestions, experiences etc....


SuperThread

Staging is also mentioned on there...

Like you, I also had a lymphnode as a secondary, tonsils were the primary.

H&N I beleive classifys STGIII as a primary and a secondary on the same side, or the size of the primary.... STGIV for mets to the opposite side of the primary.

STGIV is STGIV, though H&N Cancer does seem to have a pretty good survival rate depending on many variables.

Anyways, again...welcome to the board, you have found an awesome site with tons of experieince and survivors much like yourself...several years out from treatment.

Best,
John

Super Thread

Is this SuperThread still live?  My spouse was just diagnosed with Squamous Cell Carcinoma.  He just had the tumor removed and we are waiting to start treatment.  I am looking for good information to share with him.  Thank you!

wmc

Amy614 said:

Super Thread

Is this SuperThread still live?  My spouse was just diagnosed with Squamous Cell Carcinoma.  He just had the tumor removed and we are waiting to start treatment.  I am looking for good information to share with him.  Thank you!

Welcome to the H&N Group

Welcome and you should post a new thread, as this is very old and it takes a lot of time to find your post because it shows up in the center. Superthread is not a person. It is a thread with lots of answers;

http://csn.cancer.org/node/261072   Click here and this is the super thread:

Sorry to hear about your spouse. Please when you start your thread, if you could give some more information to where the tumor was. Head & Neck covery so much area from nose, mouth, jaw, tongue, throat [which has several areas] down to the esophagus. Mine was throat just above my vocal cords, Supragllotic Stage 3, T3, N0, M0, and I only had surgery, no chemo or radiation like most do have. My lungs were to bad from smoking so mine had to be just a little different.

If you start a new thread, many will welcome you and try to answer many of your questions and help with your fear.

So let me welcome you and also say sorry you need to be here. This is very beatable..........

Bill

debbiejeanne

Amy614 said:

Super Thread

Is this SuperThread still live?  My spouse was just diagnosed with Squamous Cell Carcinoma.  He just had the tumor removed and we are waiting to start treatment.  I am looking for good information to share with him.  Thank you!

hi amy, welcome to the family

hi amy, welcome to the family where we hate getting new members...yes, the superthread is still live and full of information.  you should be able to find all you want to know there but if not, just ask here and i know someone will be able to answer your questions.  this is a good place to be as we have lived what your hubby is going through or have taken care of someone who has.  either way, patient or caregiver, there is a ton of experience here and the best group of people on the entire internet.  we will be here to help you and your hubby.

God bless you both,

dj