Hi Everyone,

I've been combing through the pages on this website and I am impressed with the wealth of information available. Props to the site manager Brian Hill for his generosity and patience in sharing his knowledge with everyone.

Just a quick overview of my current situation:

Early in December 2011, the dentist noticed an unusual mass below my jawline. I immediately fixed an appointment with an ENT specialist. During the first meeting, he said that he is not particularly concerned about the mass because it's not located in the submandibular triangle, which is commonly associated with metastatic lymph nodes from cancers of the oral cavity. (http://www.aafp.org/afp/2002/0901/p831.html) It is located near the spot labeled as "anterior belly of digastricus" in this drawing that I found online:
http://www.learnbones.com/wp-content/uploads/Throat_Bone.png

It is adjacent to the esophagus. It's about 1.5cm by 0.7cm in size, and it moves around freely. It's not painful.

Since then I've had an ultrasound scan and a fine needle aspiration test. The ultrasound revealed an enlarged lymph node, and the technician at the office didn't seem particularly concerned. The FNAC proved inconclusive (undiagnostic).

The ultrasound did not detect enlarged nodes anywhere else in my neck. In particular, there were no enlarged nodes in the submandibular triangle.

The ENT surgeon will be excising the mass on February 1st, and the results of the biopsy should be available soon after.

I'm 22 years old. I've never smoked/chewed tobacco and I have only had alcohol a couple of times. I am also not infected with the sexually transmitted strains of HPV which have recently been implicated in the development of oral cancer. However, for several years I occasionally smoked marijuana - but only about once per month or less frequently. I usually smoked it with a vaporizer, meaning there was limited exposure to carcinogens produced by combustion. It's been a couple of years since I stopped. The surgeon didn't seem particularly concerned about the marijuana thing.

There are no visible lesions anywhere inside my mouth, and to the best of my knowledge I've never had any lesions. However, the doctor told me that the absence of lesions does not eliminate the possibility of cancer.

What do you guys think?