Hello,

Welcome to the forum. My daughter has tongue cancer, so I can't fill in too many blanks for you. I can tell you that although she had successful surgery to remove the tumor and did have clean margins, she still has a lot of pain. Her pain is in and below her ear. Her doctor feels it is from the inflammation and swelling from the surgery and radiation treatments. He said the swelling is probably putting pressure on the nerve that runs to the ear. Her first indication of the tumor was pain in her ear probably because the tumor was pressing on the nerve. So, pain alone is not an indication of metastasis or even of the severity of the cancer.

I'm sure other people will post some more answers for you. It would be helpful if you could post some more details. I wish you both luck on the Jan 2nd appointment. smile

Rosemary

Was primary caregiver to my daughter Heather who had stage IV base of tongue SCC w/ primary recurrence. Original diagnosis August 21st, 2002. Primary recurrence March 18th, 2003. Died October 6th, 2003.