What is the longest amount of time that anyone here has gone without a diagnosis.

God bless you all.
Michelle

Looking back on it, I believe Frank went for 4 plus years without a diagnosis, it started before we moved to maine in 95, he saw several docs in Pa for recurrent mouth ulcers etc......once in Maine he saw several more docs before he was diagnosed, by this time he was stage 4.........I think how much different if we had had a computer and the Board...........Dee

Dan had a tongue sore for about 3 months which kept growing. He finally went to a regular doc who did antibotics for 6 weeks, and finally sent him on to an ENT who sent him on to an oral surgeon. I believe he actually had the sore for almost 6 months before diagnosis. How sad...it could have been so different had we went say two weeks after sore and been more persistent. I have learned now never go more than 2 weeks and definitely have to be your own advocate and so persistent!
Deb

Thank you both for answering. I have had a sore throat on the right side mainly since June 2002. I have been to an ent numerous times who diagnosed me with tonsil stones and just chronic irritation. NO sores or lesions. I have had two scopes, that was a year ago, a neck ct and neck xray and many looks down the throat with a mirror. That was just on March 31st, my last check up. I just worry. I feel badly thinking of myself when I read these posts. I guess i just get scared. All the ents in this area work together so they pretty much all think the same thing about me. I go to the ent about every 2 months just to ease my mind really. He doesn't even feel he needs to see me. He said he can't even biopsy anything as there is no suspicious tissue to biopsy. So two years later, I'm thinking, maybe they missed something. My right mind tells me they would have seen something by now, but the other part of my mind just worries.
Anyway, you people are so strong and I admire you all. My stepfather is in remission from throat cancer as we speak. It's been a year and a half for him now since treatment.
Take care and thanks for listening.

I had a tongue sore for approx. 4 to 5 months that I know of, don't know exactly how long the tumor was there. Anyway, my dentist kept filing down my back tooth around the sore, prescribed antibiotics, then sent me to an oral surgeon that did a biopsy, which came back negative for cancer in April, sore seemed to get angry and really grew after that, finally saw another oral surgeon in May and was diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma, it was Stage IV, I had two lymph nodes involved. I was told it was a fast moving cancer, but I feel precious time was wasted. God Bless and Happy Easter!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I first noticed symptoms in Spring of '02 (hoarseness). Went to the family doctor in June, got 2 rounds of antibiotics and a bloodtest. Went to the ENT in Nov. '02 and was immdeiately Dx'd with SCC. Head & Neck surgeon in Dec. '02 stated it had probably been growing there for about 2 years. Except for the hoarseness it was basically asymptomatic. In the end the tumor had gotten so large that it was readily visible. At night when I was laying down it would choke me (there were times when I would stop breathing). It filled my entire throat cavity. I can email you a picture of the MRI if anyone is interested.

I went to my primary care physican in Dec 02 for a severe sore throat. She tested it for strep and came back negative. Let it run it's course was her advice. After 6 weeks with no reduction in my throat I went back to her. She seemed irritated that I was back. She again said it was a sore throat and I talked her into some anti-biotics. I took them for ten days and it got a little better. This was in February 03. It never really went away. I made another appointment in July. She took one look and said it might be cancer but probably not. This was on a Frday. She got me in to see the ENT on the following Monday. I knew from that alone I was in deep shit.
Monday he took one look and said SSC. Stage 3 or 4. The rest is history. I blame myself for letting this young inexperienced Doctor control
my treatment. If I had known what I know now I would have demanded to see an ENT and have a biospy two weeks after it didn't heal. I might have been a stage 1 or 2 in February. All I can do now is fight like hell to survive.

Dan

Just so we can really scare the casual visitor here,

I was in to see the regular doc, about something entirely different, in september of 2000. He was doing the regular checkover and found a lump under my jaw. He asked how long I had had it and I did not even know of it. Tragically, he did not make a big deal of the lump, so FIVE more months went by before I got the diagnosis. Prior to that needle biopsy I had ABSOLUTLEY NO SYMPTOMS! no sore throat, nothing. Further the cancer itself was not visable during the standard mirror down the throat thing.

While sore throats are almost always benign, Lumps should be checked right away!

Mark, what you said did not apply to my experience since I had sore throat for several months before diagnosis. My voice became a bit hoarse at the beginning of 2001 and all along I thought it was because I talked too much.I shouldn't have given myself excuse like that because I have been talking a lot all the years since I am a teacher! I didn't notice anything wrong and I kept on taking some kind of throat soothing candies. One morning in June, I had a severe pain in my throat and when I went to my family doctor, she said it was just acute tonsillitis and prescribed some antibiotics. I felt better for a while but the ache returned after a week and so I switched to another doctor. He gave me a few days' antibiotics and told me not to worry about it. The swollen left tonsil did not improve. I went to the same male doctor quite frequently to treat my diabetic problem. Every time I showed concern about my tonsil but he always told me to ignore it. He even said that I was not a suitable candidate for such cancer. Two months later, I woke up one day to find that my throat was very sore and decided to see an ENT who also believed that it was just acute tonsillitis and gave me antibiotics. There was no lump yet under my left jaw. The left tonsil was still swollen and so I changed to another more experienced ENT who also told me not to worry but when I saw him the second time, he realised how serious my problem was and referred me for further action in a hospital. The lump had already been formed in late August and it was growing fast in 2 weeks' time. When I was diagnosed in late September, it was the size of a goose egg already and it was a stage 4 cancer. I was held responsible for being ignorant in the first few months when I had a sore throat and a swollen tonsil that did not react to antibiotics. A lot of people told me that cancer did not cause pain and when my throat and lump in my neck hurt so much, I thought it was just infection.Besides, the 2 family doctors and the first ENT misled me,causing a delay of diagnosis (about 4 months). I have already deleted them from my doctors' list. They should be responsible for misdiagnosing me.

Karen stage 4 tonsil cancer diagnosed in 9/01.

THank you all for your replies. I'm so sorry for everything you have been through. I guess I wanted to be sure that I am doing all that I can for myself and by the sounds of it I am. I will just keep going to the ent and having him check me out.
Thanks again everyone. After watching my stepfather I know first hand all of you are very brave people with a strong will to beat this and I truly believe you will.
Michelle