Well, here goes.... took everyones advice and went back to see family physician--who was extremely upset with the ENT he sent me to. My family doctor believes he knows what he is looking at. He finally confessed that the reason he sent me to the ENT is because he already has another patient who presented with the exact same thing I did...and it was cancer! Now I know that a lot of you here will say that "it is not cancer until a biopsy confirms that it is cancer!" However, I did get a referal to the ENT who performed the tonsillectomy in July/03. The ENT scheduled me for a biopsy on Jan 21/04 (roughly 3 weeks from now). The ENT feels that the hole in my tongue is very suspicious and cannot believe that the first ENT did not schedule me for a biopsy right away. This ENT happens to be the head of the OMA (Ontario Medical Association, Ontario Canada) and will get full justification from the first ENT for not having done his job properly! Nonetheless, I am somewhat nervous but also fully prepared for what may lye ahead. The thing that bothers me most of all right now is that the hole in my tongue has enlargened significantly and no one it seems can tell me what it is. Furthermore, I have tried to make everyone in my family feel at ease over the holidays by showing them I wasn't going to let this thing bother me. I ate non-stop eating all kinds of holiday goodies (like I never had in the past) and lost four pounds in the process. How in the hell do you eat non-stop... cookies, cakes, chocolate, turkey, pasta, seafood, potato, stuffing, rice, etc., and lose weight? Especially eating junk food! Just my subconscious taking over? I did not want to post prior to today because I did not want to take away from others in the forum who really need friendly and spiritual advice over the holidays and who are confirmed and need extra help right now. I am not going to panic and I will wait to find out what the this hole in my tongue is. I have gone to book a family vacation for March break regardless of what the biopsy reveals. I need it and my family needs it too. We have been through so much in the last two years that anyone in our position would have probably gone a bit insane by now. I lost my mother-in-law to cancer in 2001 diagnosed JAN 21 and died Feb 5. Two weeks after that my brother-in-law, age 26, died in a horrible truck accident in New York State on Feb 20. Three months after that, his first and only son was born and will never meet his father. In order to console my baby sister, who had become the youngest widow our family has ever known, we dedicated as much time to her as possible and our family business which took 5 long and hard years to build went down the drain. It has taken me 2 years to build a new business to help support our large family. And now...my wife has been diagnosed with severe osteoarthritis which is going to cripple her before age 40 and she's only 34! So as you can see....Life has been just great to my family over the last 2 years. WOW...talk about taking a load off! Sorry, it's been building up over the last few days. I know one thing, I am not confirmed and will only try and think positive thoughts until I get the results of the biopsy. And IF IF IF it is...then I will fight hard to do whatever I have to do to stay around a lot longer. I admit that it is my own fault too, I smoked and KNEW what could happen. I am so sorry for the younger people here who didn't smoke and still became acquainted with this horrible disease. I myself am only 40 years young...Hey...is this what mid-life crisis is? LMAO . Thanks to Fr Mike for his prayers and hope that my prayers reach each and every one of you here as well. God Bless and keep on fighting!

Mark,

From my posts recently you can now see that I'm a regular. Letting it out via email or just talking about it helps. My thoughts and prayers are with you.

One question. Why so long for the biopsy? I saw my ENT on a Wednesday afternoon. Within 36 hours of that visit I had my biopsy. It was done in a hospital under general anesthia (sp?) not in a doctor's office. Many biopsies can be done right in an ENT's office. Get one soon. Demand it. There is no need to have to wait so long. One of the first things I learned from this list is that waiting to hear is the hardest part. If you need it I will give you the name and phone number of my local ENT.

Steve

Mark,

It sounds as if you are ready for whatever comes and will meet it head on with level headness and great determination. That's a very good thing.

Life hasn't been great to you the last couple of years but your strong will (it comes through your email) and also strong family support has gotten you through. Good for you.

Planning for family adventures (other than cancer) is a good thing. It gives us something to look forward to and keeps our thoughts away from dark things.

Keep us posted on your progress and results. And I too would try and get this whole process moved up. Time is not a good thing if this is the worst case scenerio.

Take care,
Dinah

Mark,

I'd have to agree with Steve. Time to get pushy if needed and insist on a biopsy right away. I'm not a fan of running to the ER for everything, but if the ENT won't be able to see you, go there complain of pain or something and have them do the biopsy. The results may be given to you then.

My prayers will remain with you.

Peace,

Fr. Mike

Hang in there Mark,

Yes very high stress can burn a lot of calories.

May I second (or third) the idea that 3 weeks till biopsy is too long. Ask him very nicely if it can be squeezed in sooner?

Mark,
I agree with the others as well. 3 weeks is a long time to wait for a biopsy. Unfortunately we Canadians have for far to long sat back and let the Medical Profession tell us how busy they are and that is the best they can do. You could nag them or tell them that it is causing you great discomfort and has become increasingly painful. Or be assertive and tell them that you want it done sooner. You might want to do what I did to find out what the hole in my tongue was. I had my family Doctor refer me to a Dentist that was willing to do the biopsy. After all that is their area of specialty. It took me 2 days to get in and 1 week for the results to come back.
David