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Hi everyone - diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma in my lymph nodes earlier this week

Chrismc07
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Hello everyone,

I’m new to this website so I thought I would say hello. I am 38yo and married with an 18yo son and a huge 7yo golden retriever. 

In May I found a lump on my neck, on the right hand side and about two finger widths below my jawline. I showed my wife and I said I’d would watch it for 3-4 weeks and see if it went away. It didn’t, so I booked a GP appointment and was seen in June. The GP didn’t think it was anything too bad but referred me to the ENT department at my local hospital. The consultant surgeon assessed me two weeks ago. This involved a questionnaire and she stuck of tube with a camera on the end up my nose and down my throat. She told me she didn’t see anything alarming in the throat. She then felt my lump and said it felt like an enlarged lymph node so booked me in for an ultrasound and biopsy the following week (last week). 

I had that and the results came in this week, squamous cell carcinoma in my lymph nodes. The consultant was very reassuring on the phone and indicated that she was very optimistic. I live a fairly active and healthy lifestyle which she said is in my favour and also the relatively short timeframe from finding it to the biopsy results. I have my CT scan tomorrow morning in then my follow up appointment with the consultant next Friday where my treatment plan will be laid out. 

I think this will probably require surgery and maybe chemo/radiotherapy. I did the obvious and googled the SCC and there’s a lot of positivity out there but also some seriously negative stories which haven’t helped my anxiety levels. My wife has been amazingly supportive but I am going to pop along to a cancer support group next week ahead of my meeting with the consultant as I think I would benefit from talking to a few others about this. I’m off sick from work so I am trying to occupy my mind as it’s easy to go down a dark path.

Anyway, I wonder if any of you have any experience of this (SCC) or indeed any tips or advice for someone newly diagnosed with cancer. I struggle when talking to my family about it as the thought of them worrying makes me quite upset which is another reason for the cancer support group meeting next week.

There are some amazing stories on here and I’m sending a lot of positivity to all of you facing the challenge of cancer. 

All the best,

Chris

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    Hi Chris, 

    You did the right thing in booking an appointment and getting this checked out after it didn't go away. It's reassuring though that the consultant is not alarmed and is optimistic. I hope that the CT scan will shed some light on this and that you find out more on Friday about your treatment plan. Stay away from the temptation to look things up on Google if you can as this will not give you any reliable answers and will only increase your anxiety levels dramatically. Focus on the positive stories if you can and on the reliable information your specialist has given you. 

    It's not a bad idea to pop along to a local cancer support group next week if you feel you might benefit from talking to others in a similar situation. Sharing your story on this forum will also help and I hope that you will hear from others here who have been diagnosed with SCC - as you rightly say, sometimes it's better to talk to others who may have been affected by cancer and who understand what you are going through especially if you don't want to worry your family too much. 

    If you do a forum search via our search function located at the top and enter the keywords 'squamous cell carcinoma', you will be able to see other past threads from members who have been affected by SCC and don't hesitate to respond to any you feel might be relevant to you. 

    I hope that it all goes well for you on Friday at the follow up appointment  - keep us updated if you get a change! Keeping everything crossed for you that you find out more too about the treatment plan. 

    Best wishes, 

    Lucie, Cancer Chat Moderator

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