Is it possible that a malignant sore on the tongue could heal or partially heal, but still be a malignant sore? Im curious because it seemed that the suspected cancer sore on the tip of my tongue was healing, but now it looks like its getting worse on another part of that same sore--like its spreading.

If it was indeed cancer would it not heal whatsoever? Or is this just wishful thinking?

Part of me says it's wishful thinking, but part of me also says that surface symptoms like an open sore might in fact heal to some extent as part of the bodies normal healing process. That healing doesn't mean the cancer is healing, just the sore.

If your cancer was diagnosed via biopsy as it should have been then accept that you have cancer and need to get it treated via the medically accepted methods, ie radiation and chemo.

Since I didn't go back and read your other posts prior to answering this one I don't know if you have been biopsied already.

If you have an Introduce Yourself thread it will probably be better for you to ask these types of questions there. Doing so, allows us to get to know you better and hence provide better answers and guidance, answers which better apply to your personal situation instead of having to be more general in nature. The Introduce Yourself forum also has the advantage of being where most of us go first every day upon signing into the forum. More people see your question, more people answer it, better results for all.

Spreading many questions across different forums will get you an answer to that question, but I think you will get better answers concentrating all your questions in one place.

Just my 2 cents (and sometimes I've found that's all it's worth).

Hang in there
Tony

Hi tony. I do have a thread introducing myself and my symptoms but i started it in the symptoms and dx forum. Is there any way to move it to the introduce yourself section?

And i havent had a biopsy yet im in the process of trying to get that done. It seems that a lot of doctors dont take their patients' concerns that seriously nowadays. They are ignorant of oral cancer symptoms.

Understand that none of us are docs of any kind so let's get the bio and see what path comes back with. BE the squeeky wheel!

So far ive had docs tell me that "youre too young for oral cancer" and my favorite so far "people dont get cancer from canker sores". Its discouraging to say the least.

We have had posters in their early 20's with no tobacco history Dx'ed with oral cancer.

I was diagnosed at 24 - no tobacco and HPV negative. The day before I had my tumor biopsied, I felt like it started to feel better and almost cancelled my appointment. I would push to get a biopsy if you haven't already just for your peace of mind. From what I have researched, it seems that my leukoplakia did not start out malignant, but turned malignant after leaving it untreated for a year. I am sure you have nothing to worry about, but better safe than sorry!

[quote=emilyp]I was diagnosed at 24 - no tobacco and HPV negative. The day before I had my tumor biopsied, I felt like it started to feel better and almost cancelled my appointment. I would push to get a biopsy if you haven't already just for your peace of mind. From what I have researched, it seems that my leukoplakia did not start out malignant, but turned malignant after leaving it untreated for a year. I am sure you have nothing to worry about, but better safe than sorry! [/quote]

Did your tumor start off as a canker like sore? Were there times when it started to heal but then got worse? I think mine is doing just this. I have an appointment on friday with an ent and am going to push for it to be biopsied. Im sick of dealing with these medical "professionals" who dont take what im telling them seriously. I feel like these people are playing with my life here as I know getting it diagnosed as soon as possible will drastically improve my prognosis.

Has anyone here had their malignant sore form on the tip of the tongue? Ive so far only read of the top, sides, and bottom.

[quote=TooWorried]So far ive had docs tell me that "youre too young for oral cancer" and my favorite so far "people dont get cancer from canker sores". Its discouraging to say the least. [/quote]

I am curious to know if these comments are coming from doctors or dentists? It seems that dentists are tending to be more proactive in detecting and looking for oral cancers now. Please do push to get a biopsy to get the earliest detection possible. If doctor's are unwilling to help you I would suggest seeing your dentist.

Dont give up! Get checked by an ENT who specializes in oral cancer. If a physician or dentist tells you that you are too young for cancer, unfortunately they are wrong.

Mine was on the side of my tongue. It started out as leukoplakia, not a canker sore, but it did go through stages where it started to heal and then got worse... I don't think it turned into cancer until it got to the point where it stopped getting better and only worse. I am not sure how long you have been dealing with your sore, but as I mentioned I had mine for a very long time before it turned to cancer. If I would have gotten it checked out sooner, I imagine they could have identified in the biopsy that it was precancerous and removed it. So don't fret too much, if it is something it sounds like you are being proactive and catching it before it becomes anything serious! By the time I finally had someone check it out, they were able to diagnose me on the spot.

Yeah there is no such thing as too young. One of our youngest members was 17 or 18 and we've had quite a few in their 20s

When I was in treatment at first my RO gave me the "short" answer to all my questions. That was seldom enough information, so I had to keep re-asking the question, sometimes in different words, sometimes by just saying I needed more detail in his answer. He eventually started answering my questions in a way that actually helped me. I asked him why he did the short answer thing, he replied that MOST of his patients don't really want to know anything about their cancer or it's treatment. They just want to come in, get treated and leave. They wanted to have as little actual involvement with their disease as possible. Since they are the majority by far he starts off with the short answers on everyone. The interested patients show it by their persistence and he switches into a more helpful mode.

You can benefit your own situation heavily in conversations with your doctors by coming across like you are an educated patient and a good advocate for your own care. Using the proper medical vocabulary in your questions and statements and talking to him/her at a professional level is how you show them you have taken the time to learn about the disease, it's symptoms and it's treatment. If the doctor was giving you the short answers this is one way to get him out of that mode.

If you already consider yourself adequately educated about oral cancer and it's treatment, that's great. If you don't feel adequate in this area, then the OCF website has lots of valuable information to educate you. It's all there for the reading.

The previous two paragraphs assume that this is the right doctor for you to be talking too in the first place. Others have said already that you need to be talking to an ENT experienced in oral cancer. Not all ENT's have this experience, many non-specialists have even less experience in this area. Someone mentioned above that dentists seem to be catching on to oral cancer better than some doctors. I too have found that to be the case, but that doesn't mean your dentist knows enough. If you want to determine your dentist's knowledge level about oral cancer that's fairly easy. Go to Youtube and search for oral cancer screening videos. There are some good ones available. Once you know what a proper screening looks like you will also know if your dentist (or doctor) knows what they are doing. It will make it much easier for you to determine if they know what they are talking about. I haven't checked recently but if memory serves OCF was going to make some screening videos available on their website.

I hope this information helps and that I haven't totally misunderstood what you are asking. Keep asking your questions, someone here has seen just about anything you can imagine and can help you with it.

Good luck,
Tony