Hello All,

I've returned to the forum for more advice. I'm now face with a dilemma: I successfully made an appointment with ENT Dr. Gerald Berke at UCLA in October (thanks for your recommendation, Shelly!), which I really look forward to. From my research, UCLA is indeed one of the top medical facility in the nation. However, it is located at west Los Angeles. I live by myself in downtown los angeles, which is not that far from West Los Angeles (and I certainly don't mind the driving to receive top notch care). However, none of my friends or family are in west LA. Most of my friends are in downtown or east los angeles county, and my family in orange county. My concern is that should I need treatment, it'd be difficult to find people who can give me ride because of the distance. I'm pretty sure that most treatments will knock me out and they won't let me drive or operate machinery for that day. I've had a colonoscopy done before, and they won't even let me take a cab home after the procedure, somebody had to pick me up.

I heard USC also has a cancer center (Norris Cancer Institute?), but it does not seem to be as well-known and prestigious as UCLA's medical center. However USC is much more public-transportation friendly, and should I need someone to pick me up, I'd have plenty of options amongst my friends.

So what should I do at this point? I want to be seen by the best, but I'm afraid that no one will be around to help me should I need treatment. Please help, I really appreciate any information you can provide.

I'm also getting nervous by the day...the lump on my tongue stopped hurting, and it doesn't seemed to be getting bigger. But it's still there, and if I push on it I can feel a tiny little knot, not hard as a rock but pretty solid. It's been a week already, I've never had anything like this before. Also I start to feel my throat is getting tighter too, like something's stucked under the throat when I swallow. It could be due to my acid reflux which used to be a problem for me in the past, maybe now it's back because I'm so stressed...