Hi everyone. I left a message a couple of weeks ago called "getting started". My husband has been told he has mouth cancer about a month ago. They have already done a CT scan and a MRI. Neither one really showed anything. Now In the morning he will be getting a needle biospy in two lymph nodes and in the soft tissue of his jaw. They will be taking a piece of tissue out of the bottom of his mouth and top of his mouth. The Dr also said they will be running something down his throat to check his voice box. They can't to find out where the cancer started and where all it is. We are going crazy not knowing anything. We will not find out about the results to the biospy until next week. I'am worried about how much pain he is going to be in after this is done. What should we expect? Tahnks for any advice that anyone can give us.

Cindy E

I didn't have to undergo all of those tests, so I can't give you alot of advice.
The one thing I wanted to stress to you and your husband is that the doctors should provide medication to help relieve some of the pain. If they do not, it is your husband's right as a patient to have his pain kept at a managable level.
I never like to take medications before my cancer, but it taught me to realize that the medications are there to make things easier and to take things when they are prescribed for me.
I wish you both luck and peace during these mind boggling times. I remember all of the tension and the awful waiting for results. Hold onto each other and keep hoping. It really does help.

Hi Cindy. My name is Bob and I have tongue cancer. One of the ways for me to recover is to share my experience to others who have similar issues as I. I dont know where in the mouth your husband had the biospy done but for me I have had 4 tumors removed from my tongue since Dec 98. 40% of my tongue has been romoved and replaced with a skin graft from my left arm. So the ravages of this disease continue . Has your husband had a MRI or Catscan done to pinpoint any dubious areas or concern so that he doesnt have to go through unnecessay surgeries. May I ask is your husband a drinker or smoker? I will be happy to help you if you want me too. Please let me know. Good luck

Hi cindy,

The time between hearing "you have cancer" till they know where and what is the worst! I had to wait 2 weeks myself...If I can offer one thought for you: it sounds like whatever he has they have found it early and that is a very good thing. Try not to worry about what he might have to go through because at this point we would all be guessing. If you read the through the many posts here you might see some scary sounding stuff. The treatments vary depending on several variables. Some have worse side effects than others. I didn't need a PEG tube, and I was home 4 days after surgery. My tonsillectomy hurt worse than anything else. Radiation if he needs it is painless when it is given. The effects of radiation vary quite a bit from person to person. The point is try to deal with things one at a time. It probably is not a walk in the park but we all got through it. keep asking questions and let us know.

Cindy,
I am wondering what you mean when you say neither the CT scan and MRI told you anything. They should be very effective tools for diagnosis of cancers. As Mark said, the waiting time is a real torture to both patients and their caregivers. That is why I insisted on working as usual before treatment and eating a lot of nutritious food to save energy for the treatment. Eating would be difficult soon after treatment.I had no surgery so no advice on this issue but for radiation, it didn't hurt during the process. For me, the mouth and throat sore appeared two weeks after the first treatment and the skin burn showed up four weeks after. The skin around the neck was severely burned with blood. Looked aweful but the pain wasn't that bad. Not everyone goes through the same experience. There are always some lucky and unlucky ones. So don't worry about something that has not yet happened.
Take care.

Karen stage 4 tonsil cancer diagnosed in 9/01.