Hello, my name is Ashley. I'm just shy of my 20th birthday which is on Monday. I have been having some troubling symptoms which prompted me to go to the ENT Specialist. Here's what's been going on. On Thursday I woke up with the sensation of a lump fat down the back of my tongue every time I swallowed (on the left side). It continued and then I developed ear pain. It scared me so without hesitation I made an appointment with an ENT I went to a fewbyeara back about my tonsils. He ran the scope/camera thing up my nose into my throat and at first couldn't see what I was talking about, but then went down further and saw it. He said it was as about the size of a pea (tip of his finger) and a pale-ish white color. He referred to it as an ulcer and told me I was the 2nd person who came in with something similar that day. He said ulcers are usually viral and will go away on their own but he prescribed me Kaflex 500mg just to see if it would help and at my 2 week follow up if there was no improvement then he would be doing a biopsy. I feel asbof my worst fears are becoming real after I heard that well its only been a couple days and I still cannot take the sensation of the lump anymore so I called back today and told them, and his nurse said that the diagnosis he had given me was Left Lingual Tonsillitis along with the ulcer, apparently the "ulcer" is in the same area. Not sure. But told me to come in tomorrow instead and him and his assistant will be rechecking and going from there since it's bothering me this bad. I am terribly shaken up...I am only almost 20, is oropharyngeal cancer common at this age? I looked it up and I'm assuming because of the area that's what it would be called. If its small and does turn out to be bad does it being small mean a lower grade tumor? No neck swelling or anything. I am going nuts over this a

And already having weird thoughts* sorry I am typing on my phone. And in the beginning I meant FAR* not fat, sorry!

Ashely, you need to calm down and not think the worst at this point. You are going back to get a relook so lets wait and see what the ENT says.

From my understanding, the size of the tumor usually does indicate the stage, so if it is anything the smaller the better! If it makes you feel any better, every person under 30 that I have talked to with head and neck cancer had tongue cancer... I am definitely no expert, but if I had to guess that type of cancer is probably very rare in young people. And all head and neck cancers are rare in young people. I wouldn't worry too much just yet. Good luck!

Ashley, david and emily are giving you good advice. There are all kinds of little bumps and things that crop up in the mouth and throat, and most of the time they're not cancer. I had a little thing similar to what you describe on my vocal cords, this was a year or two after my treatment, and it turned out to be nothing at all after a biopsy.

So... take a deep breath and let's let the doctors figure this out.