Like so many here, I'm playing the waiting game, and not so patiently.

I'm a female who is turning 46 on 7/18, I'm a non-smoker (always have been), and a social drinker (infrequent). I am a dental phobe who has avoided dentists for many years, including regular cleanings, so my oral hygiene is less than great.

Around the 9th of June, I woke up with a painful lump on my palate near the rear-most teeth. I'm not a good judge of size, so I can't tell you how big it was, but it was hard, really painful to the touch, and it hurt to chew on that side. I went to the dentist. He prescribed an antiseptic rinse and told me to come back in a few days to see his partner.

I went back a few days later, and his partner said, "It's a canker sore...It should heal up within the next week to 10 days". The chewing pain had all but subsided. He took some pix and we parted ways.

Fast forward to this past Thursday. No change in the way the lump feels. I started having extreme pain chewing on that side - not from contact with the lump, but the teeth themselves really really hurt. I went back to the dentist and he took another picture. Lump is bigger, when compared to pix from the 12th. He says, "I don't like it" (not reassuring) and he's referring me to a specialist for an appointment either Thursday (same day) or Friday (REALLY not reassuring). He left the room and went to start making phone calls to find me an appointment.

Long story short, I saw an oral surgeon on Friday afternoon. He poo-pooed it as nothing to really worry about and said we could wait another couple weeks or take it off now. Biopsy results would take two weeks. I told him I wanted to take it off, and he double-booked me on his next appointment (Tuesday morning, day after the 4th of July). Actions speak louder than words...he said it was nothing to worry about, but double-booked me on his next surgical appointment. Hmmmm.

In case you couldn't tell already, I'm a worrier.

Tuesday morning, I went in, and he took the lump off (3.5 weeks old). I had IV sedation (remember I'm a dental phobe) so it was easy peasy. Since the palate isn't really a stitchable area, he put some super glue on the area. When I got brave enough (yesterday) to see what the perimeter of the super glue area was, I was very surprised to see it was much larger than the lump had been. Last night, the super glue fell off, so now I can tell that the minced up area is definitely larger than the lump was.

When I woke up, the surgeon was still in the room. I asked him how it looked, and he said, "Pretty benign".

All throughout this time, I've had intermittent pain in my ear and the size of the glands in my neck on that side fluctuate a lot. Right now, they're kind of swollen - tomorrow morning, they could be down to nearly normal again.

From what I understand, the significant facts are that the lump was around for 3.5 weeks without healing or improving and my glands are swollen on that side (intermittently).

Would the oral surgeon have told me the truth about how it looked if he was worried about it, knowing that I'm a dental phobe and that I've got a two week wait for verification?

Can an oral surgeon tell without much doubt, by looking at a lump like this, whether it's malignant or not?

My appointment for follow up is 7/20. I'm going on vacation on 7/13, and I'm going to do my darnedest not to think about this.