Hi, I am jou.

I had an ulcer on the left side of my tongue for 2 years and finally did a biopsy. The biopsy result shows that I have dysplastic epithelium - severe form. The doctor suggested that I have a surgery to remove the ulcer. I sought a second opinion and the second doctor is agreeable to the surgery. After researching on my diagnosis, I decided to checked into a cancer centre for further diagnosis. I did another biopsy and went for a MRI scan. My results will come in 2 days later at a tumour board.

Now, I am anxiously waiting for the results. Uncertain if it is tongue cancer. This site has many brave people. But how did you deal with getting the results and the wait???

Welcome to OCF. You sound like you are doing the right things by getting second opinions and going to a cancer center. Excellent job of being a good patient who advocates for themselves. Waiting is so hard! The only thing I can say is keep yourself busy so the waiting time flys by. Hopefully your biopsy will come back as negative. Best wishes!

I keep playing in my mind what happened if it is cancer? I worried about the cost and chemo/rad therapy scared me to hell.

You know, it's funny that you think about the monetary cost of staying alive...I say that because I thought the same thing when I was diagnosed. Now I find it odd. Wait for the biopsy, "IF" (that's a big if) it comes back positive, the last thing you'll worry about is money, you'll just want to live.

Keep your chin up, it's not cancer until a biopsy says it is!

Eric

Thank you both for your kind words and encouragements. Appreciate it. Thanks.

It is so good that you came here. Everyone I'm sure agrees that waiting is the worst and keeping busy whether it's with your body or with your mind, is very important. The mind tends to think of all the things that could go wrong and it takes conscious effort to crowd out the bad thoughts and replace them with good ones. You need to think about all the things that could go right, and like Eric says: "It's not cancer until a biopsy says it is"! Meanwhile you can get all kinds of great information on this site by visiting the main page and clicking on all the links that you feel you need to know about. This way you can be better prepared for your appointment with the doctor with any questions you need answered with him/her and for questions you might have on this forum. It really helps to take someone with you to your appointment so that they can help you remember what suggestions the tumor board has for you. When my son had his appointment with the tumor board, a nurse friend of mine and my daughter and I all went with him and we all asked questions which really helped us later when we talked about the suggestions made. So until your appointment, just try to stay busy with whatever you like to do and let us know what happens.

While waiting, I reflect about my life and believe that everything happen for a reason. Even getting the diagnosis might be god's plan to make me aware of the fact that we need to treasure what matters most to us in our life. There are alway up and down in our life and as long as we get pass today, tomorrow is alway better.

Wish me luck tomorrow.

The very best of luck to you and all good wishes going your way for your appointment with the tumor board tomorrow! Make a list of any questions you have you have for them.

Hi Joucads,

People often say to me that they dont think they can handle what i have gone through but let me tell you that the human spririt is STRONG. Our survival instinct always comes out and we will always find the strength to deal with anything that is thrown at us. Chemo/rad is harsh but most of us on this board has gone through it and come out ok. I hope that your diagnosis is negative and you wont need to worry about cancer.

Minh

Hi all,

I finally gotten my results. My biopsy prove negative but my MRI scan shows that there is something penetrating into the tongue. The doctors are unable to interpret what exactly is that. So their suggestion is to go for surgery and remove part of my tongue and sent it to the lab for further examination. If its cancer then they will remove a wider margin and 20/30 lymph nodes from my neck.

I am wondering if there are a better way to interpret the MRI scan? Can anyone help?

The only way to be 100% sure is to have the surgery. A biopsy is not 100% conclusive.

I am going to consult the surgeon again about the surgery. Though I am wondering what sort of questions to ask him? Would be glad to hear of some inputs... thanks

HI, I have done the surgery and got the final results. The results shows that I have a 2mm cancer on my tongue and I need to undergo another surgery for a wider margin and to shave more of my tongue to check if there are more cancer.

Hi - it bothers me that they are doing this in bits and pieces. But it's a small lesion so you are lucky they caught it early- did they talk about your nodes at all?

Best of luck on your next surgery!