Welcome to OCF and so sorry to hear about losing your Mom and your Dad having a bum leg. As you are concerned and this is really messing with your mind you must find a way to get to an ENT doctor to get this checked and treated or put your mind at ease.

This is really important so you may have to put yourself out there a bit and ask for some help from neighbors, friends, o anyone who can help provide transportation to see the doctor. Even though this seems a hurdle, please pick up a pencil and write a few names down then call them.

Call the county community services number. Call the county health department. Call the local church. I am certain there is a resource that can help get you to the doctor. You can get over this first step.

You will feel much less stressed once you make the call and get things going.

Good luck

Welcome to OCF! Im so sorry to read of the things you have been thru at such a young age.

Please do yourself a huge favor and try to calm down. Being upset only causes more stress which can make everything more difficult. Only thru a biopsy can it be determined if you have cancer.

I suggest calling around to get an appointment with an ear, nose and throat specialist (ENT), one who specializes in oral cancer. Not that this is what you have! These are the most experienced doctors and can better diagnose your symptoms much faster than someone without that background. If its not possible for your father to take you, do you have friends or other relatives, even a neighbor who could drive you? It may take a couple weeks to get into the proper ENT, probably a couple more weeks before you get any results from a biopsy. This is only one reason why its in your best interest to try to stay calm about your situation. Its unhealthy to be stressed for weeks. It might be a good plan to see your family doctor to discuss some medications to help with anxiety.

First thing you must do is QUIT SMOKING IMMEDIATELY! This is not optional, it must happen right away. Your mouth could be irritated by the chemical additives in the tobacco which could be aggravating something simple. By eliminating the irritants it will give your mouth a chance to heal. I know its not easy to quit, I smoked for far too many years and quit cold turkey. I made the decision to quit knowing the damage was already done but I didnt have to make everything worse by continuing to smoke. Please let this be your wake up call and get rid of all tobacco products for good.

Hopefully this is nothing serious. Best wishes!!!

I know how you feel im going thru the same thing but im 16 and a male I feel your pain the fear. my doctor told my I just had a throat infection but im still scared its been a week and the infection is still here to make it worse I think I have warts on my tonsil and top Pilates or whatever its called im really sorry about your mom my mom was like your mom always tried to cheer me up in the days I was scared and sad because I thought I had oral cancer I feel for u don't worry I wish I was with u I would help anyway I could please don't be scared mabe its nothing I will pray for you and your family

Stressing, smoking and Googling are the 3 worst things you can do. Stop all 3 and see a doctor.

Listen to everyone else and somehow get to see an ENT asap. Do stop using ALL tobacco products immediately and FOREVER regardless of what this turns out to be.

It sounds like you have worried about this or another cancer before or for a long time now. Please keep pursuing the physical aspects of your medical diagnosis but also don't neglect the psychological aspects. You've certainly experienced some traumatic events and perhaps someone equipped to help process the changes in your life can help you. Crying is good but not being able to control emotions and function because of it is a sign there's more going on.

I am scared I won't be taken seriously when I go to my doctor (on Monday). I am an 18 year old female, I was a heavy smoker for 4 years (I am down to 1 cigarette a day from a whole pack). I am HPV negative.

I have been worrying myself endlessly researching oral cancer online. It is more common than Leukaemia which is frightening. It is in the rise amongst young women in my age group.

I am NOT a hypochondriac, I feel I do have good reason to be worried. Whenever my estrogen/progesterone levels "peak" (when I have my period in specific) I get a nagging ache in my tongue. Estrogen has been linked to the progression of oral cancer!! (article I read: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/735284

I have an endocrine disorder which stops me from menstruating. I can go months without having a period, and when I do, my tongue worries me to the nth degree.

Here are the areas of my tongue that are worrying me:
http://imgur.com/igaEiOP
http://imgur.com/D0BnHXV

What steps do I need to take to get these things biopsied? Do I go to a dentist? A doctor? An ENT? I am clueless!! I cannot sleep because I am so damn worried

As I explained in my previous post, you need to seek out an ENT who specializes in oral cancer.

Sorry if I am bothering you all -- I am just very nervous and I am unsure how to use this site - thank you everyone for the feedback you have given me, I will keep you all updated, just anxious that is all..

I agree with the advice you've been given so far and I'm glad you are going to the doctor on Monday.

If you haven't do so yet, sit down and make a list of the symptoms that concern you so that you don't forget anything when you see the doctor. Can someone go with you? It helps to have someone else there so that can take notes.

Wishing you the best!

Y&W - you are using the site just fine, keep on doing what you are doing, but listen to (and do) what these people are telling you, and that is 1. quit smoking and 2. lie, cheat, steal (ie do whatever is necessary) but get yourself to an ENT doctor who specializes in oral cancer. Let him/her be the one to tell you what you have or what you need to do next. Stop trying to diagnose your own problem via what you read on the internet. Stop trying to relate your other physical problems to this one. They may or may not be related, but only an experienced doctor can make that decision ... not you, and not anyone on the internet.

Edit: I must have missed somewhere that you have a doctors appointment Monday ... sorry.

Lastly, stop worrying yourself silly over this. A high degree of worry is very common in our new forum members, we see it all the time. One of the first things we have to do for almost every new member is to get them to calm down and stop worrying. When you calm down you will start thinking rationally again and regain the ability to learn about your situation in a healthy, productive way.

If you just absolutely have to cruise the internet for information, go to our OCF website and read the stuff there. All of that stuff has been reviewed by experts before it was ever published here. It has a much higher chance of being legitimate and accurate than the unknown and unproven stuff found on most of the internet.

Hang in there, you will get through this. You will get through it much easier if you calm down and stop worrying so much.

take care,
Tony

Young and worried. Do you plan on being young and worried forever? We'll have to find something shorter and happier to call you. Now the Americans here might not appreciate just how remote you can be from even a basic GP in Australia, so we'll cut them some slack on that. What town are you in/near? Even remote places have procedures for getting you treated.

You need to see a GP first for a referral to a specialist ENT surgeon. The public system generally have a cancer referral centre in one of the major hospitals in your state. BUT... as we've said before this could be a million things besides cancer. The only way to definitively diagnose cancer is to biopsy the tumour or aspirate a swollen node.

Doctors look at a whole range of things when doing a diagnosis. If you Google you will come to the conclusion every tummy ache is bowel cancer an every headache a brain tumour. Telling the difference requires years of training, thats why the doctors get the big bucks.

Let me tell you one thing I learned about smoking related cancers. They are considered to be exposure dependent, so the more you smoke the worse it gets. They measure the exposure in pack years. A pack year is a pack a day for a year. So if you smoke a pack a day for 4 years you have 4 pack years. I smoked less than that over a lot more years, and mine worked out to be 5 pack years. The ENTs said while it is a factor, it was nothing compared to P16, which caused mine. I quit straight away of course, and so must you. Completely and right away. Whatever your diagnosis on Monday, consider this your wake up call. Not everyone survives a second wake up call.

As I said earlier and everyone has said something similar, stop smoking, stop Googling and stop stressing. And wait to see what the doctor says. Let us know how you go.

I appreciate all of your replies -- it has kept my anxiety at bay. However, the doctor said it was just "anxiety" that was troubling me. It isn't just anxiety!! I am offended, and angry, insulted, grr!! Next step is going to an ENT. I am taking the advice that you have all given me and I will continue being persistent until I get an answer!! I really want these things biopsied. I have a question: do I need a referral to make an appointment with an ENT? Thank you all for being so patient with me!!

Stop with the emotions. It won't help anything. Keep everything at an arm's distance.

As far as the referral question, only your insurance company can ask that unless you want to risk having to pay out of your pocket.

Yes you need a referral to see an ENT. Again, calm down it is not helping that you are not thinking clearly about this. You say the doctor said it was just anxiety. You are clearly showing plenty of symptoms of that. Anxiety is not something that is "made up". Its a physical reaction to an external threat. Whether the threat is real or not is what needs to be investigated.

Currently the external threat is cancer. Its in your head as the only thing that could cause this lump in your tongue. Every time you Google you find another description, another statistic, another study that confirms what you're thinking. Sound familiar? Its called confirmation bias and its very normal.

Now separate the anxiety from the lump. What is causing the lump. Is it a fungal thing, is it some kind of benign growth, it must be something. Could be anything. But its there, its obvious and easy for the doctor to see. You will leave the doctor's on Monday with either an answer or the next step in the investigation. But again, don't dismiss him for treating the anxiety. These are two related but separate conditions you have. Let him treat both.

If you do find its cancer, or some other disease that with a long complicated treatment, it will be different to any experience you've had with a doctor before. You might be used to a doctor putting a stethoscope on you and saying "yep, chest infection" giving you antibiotics and it all goes away. Get used to the idea that some medical investigations are very complex, requiring multiple stages. Different specialists, different scans and tests, all to make a proper diagnosis and treatment. All this takes time. Look at the signatures. It takes months, sometimes years. We never have a moment where its the end of the road, there is always another step. Even when you get clear you live with a fear of recurrence for the rest of your life.

Now how do we do it? A day at a time. You break it down to the next step in the path. Your next step is you see your doctor on Monday. There's nothing you can do until then. When you reach that next step you'll have another step. Whatever it is the doctor wont wave a magic wand over you and say "you have cancer and you're going to die". Even if it is cancer, its not the end of the path. You get the next step. Might be a biopsy or a scan. Again not the magic end to the path. Then you have treatment. More scans, blood tests, etc etc etc etc. All steps in a very long path. All we can do is live life as best we can until the next step. Thats how we do it, and thats what you have to do now. Calm down and focus on what you can do between now and Monday. Recognise the anxiety for what it is, and focus on calming it down between now and Monday. And when Monday comes, remember it is just the next step.

Hi -- Just wanted to give you guys an update; I went to my doctor about 2 months ago, he told me that my lymph nodes were swollen in my neck. I visited him again today, my lymph nodes in my neck are still swollen. They're not tender (to be honest, I don't even know where they are)... he seemed slightly concerned. My collar bone is starting to hurt and it's driving me insane! Quite worried now. I'm going to have an ultrasound on my neck next week. Please wish me luck. I'll keep you guys posted. Thanks.

I'm really confused why they don't just do a biopsy if they are concerned. 2 months is a long time to worry without doing anything analytical or diagnostic, in my opinion.

Yup - I agree. They're pissing around. A biopsy is in order skip everything else all an ultrasound will do is tell them you have swollen nodes. hugs

Ditto.

Ok -- got my results back from ultrasound. It said: there are a couple of prominent submental lymph nodes, the largest measuring 7mm in short axis diameter. They maintain normal fatty hilum and hilar vascularity, and may reflect a small reactive node.

Is a 7mm node too small to biopsy?

No. Did you review the results with the doctor and mutually agree on the next steps?

If you can, use the Search function. There's tons of posts about sizes of nodes for FNA's. That's the true diagnostic tool.

Good luck.

Not if it can easily be felt by the doctor doing the biopsy for a fine needle biopsy. If it can't be felt, someone would have to do an incisional biopsy and removal of the whole things, and in the absence of other examinations, tests and opinions that yielded compelling information to indicate this might be cancer, that seems too invasive an idea for something.

Brian, would the doctors be able to hold a 7 mm node in place for a FNA biopsy? For my 4 mm submental node, we went with an image guided FNA. That seemed a better choice than the invasive incisional biopsy we first talked about. They even wanted to split the jaw and harvest more to be safe. I wasn't physically up to that.

I had about 10 successful FNAB's for suspected neck nodes, some palpable, some not, and as small as 3mm, all being done under ultrasound guidance. I guess it depends on the experience of the doctor too, and all mine were done by a pathologist.

Mine was 42mm and they used ultrasound guidance. I cant imagine why they wouldn't use ultrasound guidance for every FNA?

Y&W 2 months is too long to be "slightly concerned". If he doesn't know by now what it is, or what the next step is to investigate what it is, its time to go to a major town with a better doctor.

Remember what I said about coping with long periods of uncertainty during the diagnosis? Well I didn't mean wait this long! Anyway its up to you how you want to handle it, I'm sure we're not getting the full picture of what the doctor is thinking.

Hopefully you're in your second month as a non smoker? If you need reminding how important that is, have a look at our signatures. Cancer isn't a lottery, and once you have it you don't quietly fade out in a morphine haze. Whether you survive or not no one gets an easy ride.

[quote] I cant imagine why they wouldn't use ultrasound guidance for every FNA?[/quote]Even for large node tumors? My neck node was clearly visible and the ENT did the FNA without any extra equipment. It came back positive and later I had a full biopsy under general but that was later.

I suppose if it was sticking out of your neck it would be hard to miss! Mine was the size of a golf ball but it was deep in my neck.

It could be used to check for other suspected nodes scanned during the same visit I would think, not just the one palpable. Ultra sound is good at identifying nodes, cheap, even better than PET/CT scans in some aspects.

Relax as best you can, There are many many reasons for the growth you found. And stress is the worst thing you can do if it turns out it is cancer. Take a deep breath and be positive, But get in to see your ENT, Find a way to get there. Cab or a friend. And lean on someone to help with Dad.