Mike, your questions arent easy to answer! We have people who come here after searching Dr Google asking us questions about things besides what our site specializes in... oral cancer. As non-medical professionals, our knowledge of things other than oral cancer, treatments, and recovery often are very limited. This would include knowing what could cause only one tonsil to swell, tonsil stones, tonsillectomies, etc. Its impossible to answer questions about medical conditions that we have never been exposed to.
The choices on which path to take regarding medical decisions are not easy ones to make. These choices should be thoroughly discussed with a medical professional who specializes in these types of things. A second opinion from an experienced medical professional is also important to ensure you are making the best possible choices. As a group of oral cancer patients and caregivers, we do not have the knowledge or medical background to give you a complete, legitimate answer to your questions. In my opinion, it seems irresponsible for a doctor to perform surgery on an area that may (or may not) contain cancer without first checking for cancer. If you decide to do a tonsillectomy and your physician sends samples from the removed tissue to the lab to determine if there is any cancer sounds risky to me. If cancer would be detected after the surgery, you may need another surgery to ensure all the cancer has been removed plus a wide enough margin to get every single cancerous cell. By having a biopsy done, you would know for certain if you have cancer then act accordingly with treatment plans made up by oncologists. Reading and educating yourself about all of your medical issues will help you to become a strong advocate for yourself.
Oral cancer is NOT something that many dentists and family doctors are overly familiar with. The symptoms arent always bothersome enough for patients to realize they have something serious going on. Who would think a mild sore throat or an ear aches could be cancer? If you have not already been seen by an ENT who specializes in treating oral cancer patients, Id advise this would be your first step. Having or not having medical insurance shouldnt be the deciding factor in your health decisions. There are many financial aid programs all over the US that are in place to help under or uninsured patients. If you would have cancer, it can be a life or death situation that needs to be taken care of as soon as possible. Cancer isnt something to play around with, or to put a price tag on. I do completely understand when patients have difficult treatment choices to make based on their insurance and financial situations. But, please do not delay in getting yourself checked out. April is Oral Cancer Awareness month. You may find some places that do free oral cancer screenings in your area.
For many years, doctors avoided removing tonsils of any adult. I wasnt aware this was now something that patients could request to be done. I had a friend who had her tonsils out many years ago. From what I remember, she was kept in the hospital only a couple days. She was in quite alot of pain and discomfort for at least the first few days after the surgery. Her eating and speaking were greatly impacted for at least 10 days. The recovery was a good 6+ weeks before she felt well enough to go about her regular active lifestyle and diet.
Ive added a couple links that should be able to help you. The first link is to our free oral cancer screening events section of the main OCF website. The second one is to our Understanding section of our main OCF site. This will help you to read thru page after page of info that will help you to better understand oral cancer, getting diagnosed, treatments, etc.
Best wishes with everything!
Main Oral Cancer Foundations site, Free Screenings InfoMain OCF site, Understanding, Diagnosis, Treatment, etc
