Hi Valamist,

I'm so sorry to hear abour your mum & now your dad is suffering from SCC. It's tough on you both.

Please stay away from Dr Google - as you can see it will scare you silly. It's also out of date & doesn't reflect the situation now. 

SCC can spread & can cause death, however it's a very, very small proportion of patients that this occurs in, 1% of all patients, so the odds it will happen to your dad are very, very small.

It's hard to try & stay positive when you have already a parent to cancer, and so recently, but there is every chance your dad will be treated successfully.

Good luck to you both and please don't tell your dad what you have read - it will only upset him further & he will feel so upset already,

Best wishes,

Angie (Stage 3 melanoma patient)

Hi Angie,

Thank you for your fantastic reply. I am sorry about panicking and writing that post. Yesterday was a bit of a shock. I feel calmer now. The urge to visit Doctor Google is still there (Especially now he says he thinks he has a similar lump on his other leg, which makes me fear it has already started spreading...) but I will endure and wait and see what happens.

Thanks again, and my best wishes to you!

(EDIT: He says thats its more scabs and stuff on his other leg that he just wants checking out... he has bad legs anyway, so again, me panicking over what could be nothing again!)

A slight update. He has been diagnosed with a 'moderately differentiated' SCC, which I think means its a bit more aggressive then it could have been, but not as aggressive as it could be. (To my shame, I did Google it...) They checked his lymph nodes, and there are no signs it's moved there yet, so that some good news. He has an op booked in for the coming weeks to have the rest of the site removed and try to put a skin graft on (He has bad legs though, so it may not stick.)  so we will just have to see what happens next.

Slight update, he is getting the results of the biopsy back next week to see if they have got it all, and then they will deal with his other leg. Anxious of what they will say, but will deal with whatever happens one step at a time.

Thanks for the updates. Good luck for clear results & I hope the surgery on your dad's other leg goes well. Take care, Angie

I'm sorry about your mom... It sounds like your dad will be ok after they remove the rest of it since his lymph nodes are clear.
 

Both my parents have had squamous cell skin cancer surgeries and recovered after surgery. My mom has to go in every few months or weeks to get biopsies because she keeps getting skin cancer in different spots. She just tested positive for another squamous cell and has to have another surgery.

I hope your dad recovers quickly.