Hey Everyone
i AM DOING A SCHOOL PROJECT ON ORAL CAVITY CANCER AND I WANTED TO KNOW IF ANYONE WOULD LIKE TO SHARE INFORMATION WITH ME. MY GREAT UNCLE AND CONFORMATION SPONSER IS A SURVIVOR OF ORAL CANCER. THANK YOU FOR ANY INFORMATION. MEG

I WANTED TO KNOW WHAT THE SYMPTOMS OF ORAL CANCER ARE. THANK YOU.

Congratulations, Meg. You have found the most definitive site to answer most, if not all of your questions. Since you've signed on, you are qualified. Now show some mettle and begin your research. Look and read and you shall learn.

If you have specific questions, as individuals we can answer, all you will need is to post them. The experience here is vast.

Good Luck. David

THANK YOU! I HAVE LEARNED SO MUCH ALREADY!

I had a dull ear ache, on the right side that was continuous and nagging. I went to my Ear nose and throat Doc with that complaint. After examination, he stated that there was really no reason for my ear to hurt and went on to further questions. He did a pysical exam of the throat with his finger,(we call that RUDE and CRUDE). When he withdrew his finger from my throat he stated that he felt something there that he was uneasy about and performed a scope procedure and called the diagnosis right then, SCC. That was on a Friday and Monday morning I was in surgery for a biopsy and the rest is history.
I was blessed that my ENT was thorough and found this cancer quickly.
I have had no Surgery, only radiation and Chemo and so far, I am cancer free. My ENT examines me every two months, and I see my primary Oncologist every three months. I have a comparative CT scan every 6 months.
Darrell

Hi Meg,

I had tonsil cancer. It was a stage 4 and invasive. I had a sore throat that wouldn't go away. At the point it started to effect my eating I went to the doctor. This was in a 7 month span. On the thrid visit to my reguler GP she referred me to an Oral Surgeon. If you want any details please feel free to email them to me. I will gladly answer any question on Head & neck Cancer I know.

Danny Boy

Hi Meg,
Thanks for all you are doing to get the word out there. My cancer started as a "sore" beneath my lower left teeth. It didn't heal in two weeks so I had it biopsied. I was very very lucky to have caught it early.
Judy U.

Hello Meg, my oral cancer started as a sore on the left side of my tongue that did not go away. Precious time was wasted on antibiotics, biopsy that came back negative, etc. The whole time it was cancer and Thank God I was finally referred to a competent oral surgeon who took one look at it and told me it was squamous cell carcinoma and arranged for the surgery. My gosh, I was at Stage IV at that point! Good Luck on your report, get the word out!!! Thanks, Carol

Hi Meg! I had the dull constant earache like Darrell for months. I have dealt with sinusitis on same side for 20 + yrs & thought the 2 wer'e related. Had sore throat last couple of months before diagnosis & also thought it was related to sinus infection. Hind site is so clear at this point. All the indicators we're there for a long time before I found out what was up! The last few weeks before diag, I was constantly trying to clear my throat & actually hacked out bloody flem. Again, hind site is crystal clear. When I finally went in to see GP the tumor was so large he knew right away it wasn't good & sent me next day for ct scan & reffered me directly to ENT who knew it was probably cancer on sight. Good luck with your report & may this disease never touch your family again. Erik

Hi Meg,
Like Dan, I had a stage III/IV right tonsil cancer. My first symptoms where a little hoarseness and a mild cough at first. As the tumor got larger it felt like something was caught in my throat. At that point I started persuing a cause with my GP. I went through a couple rounds of antibiotics and some some routine bloodtests done with no results. My wife then noticed that at night I sounded as if I was choking. I would actually stop breathing. The tumor had gotten large enough, 6cm x 3cm, to actually block my throat cavity. She tape recorded it and it startled me enough to make yet another appointment with the GP so I immediately called him and he politely declined stating I needed a referal to an ENT. After another month passing while I processed my fear (mainly of a needle draining procedure as I thought it was a peritosillar abcess), I finally went. He took one quick look and told me that I had an advanced cancer and to get my affairs in order. My head & neck surgeon estimated it had been there for over 2 years.

I started smoking in my late teens and quit in my early 20's, started again in my late 20's and quit my the time I was 30. I also am a recovering alcoholic with 10 years of sobriety. I had hepatitis back in the late 70's and drank mainly beer from that point on, after a year of total abstinence. I was a periodic binge drinker, which means I did not drink every day. I was also a high functioning drunk, i.e., always held a job and also fooled many people. Many of my close friends were shocked when I confided that I was an alcoholic, some had worse denial than I did. Most modern alcoholics these days are not the down and out types you see on TV (like Ray Liotta on ER last week) or the seedy part of town. I also smoked pot for many years. Any or all of these may have have been causitive factors. Certainly they were aggravators if nothing else.

Hope this helps.