HI all, I am 30 yrs old and have stupidly chewed tobacco for the past 13 years. I have just noticed lukoplakia and have blood lesions in the lower lip area. biopsy was taken with 99 percent suspicion of cx. Real scared, I have a five month old with possibly another on the way, solid career and looking for any advice or anyone assoiciated with previous tobacco cancer patients.

Standby ihavefaith, the experts will be along shortly. Did the biopsy results comeback or are you still waiting? If not, your going to hear someone say "it ain't cancer until the pathology says it is". Either way, you'll be in my prayers.

Take a deep breath. Now another one.

What Youngin said; about it not being cancer...etc. and welcome. I didn't chew, I smoked, for 30 + years. IF it is cancer, you can do this. DOn't start thinking it's all over before you even begin...things aren't like that any more.

It is tough, it is horrifying, and you have come to the right place. Wait for your results, see what they recommend for a treatment plan if it is a cancer, and come back here and let us know.

No one will re-diagnose you, but we have all walked those terrifying miles before you. and we're here to help you through them too
Wayne

My husband chewed tobacco for 20 years. In January he had a cankersore that would not heal. Turned out to be scc at stage 1. Since then he has had surgery. During the surgery the Dr. did a skin graft inside his mouth, removed 6 teeth, part of his mandible, 50 lymph nodes in his neck ( 2 came back to be positive). Fortunately the pathology of the bone was negative. He has been going through 30 treatments of radiation. Compared to a lot of patients on this forum he is a lucky one. If you can consider anyone with cancer lucky. The drs. have never come out and said the tobacco was the culprit but I know it was. If you end up not having to go down this road (and I hope you don't) STOP THE TOBACCO NOW! The physical and emotional anguish that the cancer patient and their loved ones go through is not worth the so call pleasure the chew gives you. Good Luck to you and I do hope your situation has only been given to you as wake up call.

Hello
I am 44 years old and recently have been diagnosed with oral cancer. I had something that looked like a canker sore on the inside of my cheek for about 6 months. Then the roof of my mouth started w/ a small white patch. June 8th had a biopsy done. Boy was my mouth sore for a week hurt like heck. Im pretty wimpy. Anyway, now the results are in and both the cheek and top of my mouth are cancerous. I have been referred to an ENT. My oral surgeon really didnt give me very much info only said both are cancerous and I will need surgery and radiation. Seemed to me like I am in the middle stages from the way he talked to me. Im very scared and dont know what to expect, except a long tough road ahead. Being a single mother w/ no one to help me Im traumatized beyond words. I have a 16 year old daughter who is a special needs child she has ADHD and is Bi-polar. I will have to depend on my 17 year old son for everything. Which to me is the worst part. Can someone please answer some general questions. Time wise I know this is hard to predict, but please can someone give me a wild guess. I am very worried as to how long my hospital stay will be for surgey and how long I wont be able to do much for myself. Will it be 2 months or a year or more? I cannot be a burden placed on my child and dont know where to turn.

Dear Christine, The road to your recovery from this will be hard at times and you will need a support system beside your 17 yr. old son. I don't believe he'll be able to do be your lone caregiver. The surgery and radiation will take several months. Surgery will probably result in 5 to 7 days in the hospital[depending on the amount of surgery] then recovery time at home before radiation starts. Radiation [this is generalized] is usually given 5 days a week for 30 to 45 treatments. Somewhere during that time, you will probably feel pretty bad- more toward the end and for a month or more afterward. Please try to gather friends, a church group or a local cancer society, social services at the Hospital, to your side and arrange for help with your home responsibilities while you fight this disease. Remember, everyone here has specific experience with what you are dealing with, and will answer your questions, give you and your family emotional support when we can, and will help you interpret the "lingo" you are going to hear from the Docs. I know it's very hard to go into this with a positive attitude, BUT you gotta have an "I can beat this" mentality! Keep posting and we'll be with you. Amy in the Ozarks

Amy
Thanks for the info. You told me exactly what I needed to try to prepare for this. I have always been overly independant, and this will be the hardest thing I will ever do. My mentality at this time is "I cant be sick". I wont let this get the best of me, I will be a survivor.

Good for you - now Kick A#$ Amy in Oz

Faith...you have said you are a surgical rep. You should know that in the world of biopsy, no one has any confidence of anything until the biopsy results come back from the pathologist... so whomever told you they had a 99% suspicion/confidence, whatever that it was cancer would be someone that I wouldn't be listening to any more. Any Dr. worth his salt is not going to make this kind of comment, since they all know that visually you can't tell what is going on for sure, and this is unnecessarily creating anxiety in the patient for something they can't know, and hardly at a 99% certainty.

While leukoplakia is a precancerous lesion, I don't know of any chew tobacco users that do not have it. It is a by-product tissue change that comes from contact with the tobacco. Stop the tobacco and in the vast majority of users it goes away. More than that, only about 25% of all leukoplakias convert to malignancy.

Lastly, a blood lesion? This is a term a doctor used to tell you what you had? I like to know what that is since it is not a term used to described any precancerous or cancerous lesion that I have every heard of.

Also it is not necessary to paste your same posting into several different forums. People usually go to the today

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