Hi Liz, I'm sorry for your loss and thank you for posting your story. It is So imperative to get a second even a third opinion and I'll tell you why. In 07 I went to my doctor and showed her a lump under my tongue she told me it was a blocked salivary gland. In 09 I went to another doctor actually an ER doctor in hopes they would run tests on it. It worried me and was painful. Still no tests I was told it was a blocked salivary gland and to suck on lemon drops. A week later I went back to my own physician still no tests, she agreed with the ER physican suck on lemon drops. On 1/1/10 I changed from Kaiser to Blue Cross insurance. I went to my new PCH and she immediately referred me to an ENT. The ENT said I had something "very strange" but he didn't think it was cancer. I insisted he do something so in all his wisdom he said he would remove it. It was removed 9/10, results mucoepidermoid carcinoma. Immediate referral to UCSF Dr. Eisele who was very upset at the ENT for removing and not biopsying as he left him with no clear margins to work with and then had to remove the whole left floor of my mouth instead of a smaller area. So the moral of my story is don't trust your doctor and ask tons of questions. Though I must say I trust Dr. Eisele, he is THE BEST in his field, literally.