Hello all, back in September I noticed some white patches on the left side of my tongue. It wasn't painful but my dentist referred me to an oral surgeon who set up a biopsy for early December. The results came beck negative for cancer and for herpes the surgeon said that we needed a follow up appointment and if it hadn't gone away he might do another biopsy.
Now here it is January and the white spots are still there. I have also noticed that my left ear has a weird feeling like there is a build-up of pressure, almost like my ear needs to pop but it won't (been about a week now). There has also been pain on the left side of my tongue where the spots are that wasn't there before. I was just wondering what some of your thoughts were on all of this. I dont go back for my follow up appointment for another 2 weeks and Im starting to get nervous.
Thanks!

I would go to your GP and ask for a referral to an ENT with experience in Oral cancer - this is where you need to be.
Chances are this is not cancerous, however, you want to be monitored by someone who knows their stuff and is familiar with oral cancer in the early stages. Do it asap. particularly not that you are having pain.
hugs and best of luck

Change the appt and get in there now.

Thank you for the advice. Im new to this and not even sure if its possible for it to have turned into cancer in only about a month but I had read that a few people have had a biopsy that came back negative and then when retested came back with cancer. So after reading that I have become a little more nervous.

I agree you should get a follow up - i saw an ENT when I had a white patch on the bottom side of my tongue, who said it was just leukoplakia (an auto-immune thing) so I didn't worry about it. It came and went for a while, then eventually a red bump formed in the same area, which I really didn't even notice. When it started getting really painful I finally followed up about it a year later, and it was stage 3 - the oral surgeon i went to was able to diagnose me on the spot. I don't mean to scare you as in my ENT's defense it was highly unlikely for it to turn into cancer at my age; however, I have a lot of regrets to this day about not following up sooner. The cancer can grow very fast so the sooner the better!

Time frame on cancer - I know drs say... no... it won't move that quickly. That's crap. We are highly metabolic creatures... daily cells die, multiply, and grow. The speed at which all this happens is determined by many things. Biology, DNA, diet, exercise, age, overall health etc...
Why do younger people diagnosed with cancer tend to have more of a fight on their hands and have a more aggressive cancer? Because they generally function at a higher metabolic rate.

Some forms of the same cancer can also be more aggressive.
So despite what they say... yes. things can change in a month.
The older members of this forum have heard this story from me before.

Had my Biopsy - dec 10. - diagnosis - cancer - dec 20 - CT - head, neck and chest dec 21 (no spread - the cancer was localized) I was away after christmas - sitting at a table in a restaurant just before new years (dec 28th) I felt a lump under my chin. It was the size of a small egg. MRI Jan 6. still clear - even though I could feel the lump. Feb 4 surgery day. they removed my tumor (tongue) and 40 lymphnodes - one - was positive for cancer (the lump under my chin) and it had broken through the node into the surrounding tissue.

ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN... and time is always important when you think you are dealing with cancer...

hugs.

Yes, Amanda I agree. I was originally put off 3 times until I went to the right person. Saw my surgeon on August 13, and from then to Oct 11 (my surgery) it had grown from 3 cm to 5.5 cm. Had they caught it March (5 months earlier when I first complained), I might have been able to have it excised rather than losing more than half of my tongue.

Thank you all for your advice and the responses. I got my appointment changed and when I went in the oral surgeon didnt seem too worried. He scheduled me for another follow up in march and said that if it (white patches) was still there I would need to get another biopsy. Since I saw him I have noticed a small (not much bigger than a pea) white bump near the white patches and where my first biopsy was. It isn't really raised up/sticking out much but it is hard. I dont want the surgeon to think im crazy if I call and ask for another appointment before march, but I have also heard a lot about people regretting not getting a follow up sooner.

When there's uncertainty, getting a second opinion can be very helpful. In your shoes, I would just for peace of mind.

Ditto what mamacita said.