Hello @theaceman and welcome to Connect. Head and neck Cancer is frequently a squamous cell carcinoma and can originate either from skin cells or from mucous membrane like the lining of your mouth, tongue, etc. My SCC is skin origin from my external ear canal deep by the eardrum. After initial surgery to remove it and the bone of the skull that it had invaded ,I was clear for about 18 months. Then a mass appeared in my lung that turned out to be a metastasis, hence now metastatic SCC. I suppose you will have more diagnostics like a PET scan and perhaps MRI or CT looking for the original. It sounds like this was sitting pretty quietly in your lymph node for quite a while. Perhaps it is a slow growing and less aggressive tumor? I have had 3 mets surgically removed, 2 in lung and 1 on a muscle. The last one was in my kidney and the draining lymph nodes were also involved. I was on an immunotherapy drug for just over 2 years and the kidney and lymph nodes are free of tumor currently. I hope you are able to learn more and develop a plan of treatment soon. It is so important to advocate for your own cancer care. Educate yourself and take part in the decision making. Keep in mind that an oncologist who specializes in head and neck cancer might be your best bet. Always consider a second opinion, preferably at a large referral center/teaching hospital to find such a specialist. We drive 10 hours to Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN for my cancer treatment and have been since 2012 when first diagnosed. The care there is second to none and the head and neck oncologist is wonderful. I will try to answer any questions you may have. Good luck to you. Think positive!