Hi, Braziliangirl.

I started in May with my left tonsil becoming very inflamed and enlarged so much that it extended out to my uvula (midline of throat). I went to my PCP who prescribed prednisone and antibiotics, as I also had a left ear infection. That pain was pretty bad and it affected my speech. The medications made the tonsil reduce by about 70%, but then 5 days after I finished the antibiotics, it flared up again. All along, I never had a positive strep test, so they thought the tonsillitis was viral and caused the ear infection secondarily. This is when I went to see my surgical oncologist/ENT. He ordered a CT scan with contrast and it showed that my tonsil was enlarged and appeared to just be inflamed. There was no evidence of a peritonsilar abscess, but he felt the tonsil and it was firm. He thought that the infection was inside the tonsil. He prescribed 2 more weeks of antibiotics, which were ineffective at eliminating the problem. So, he decided that that tonsils should be removed. He did NOT expect cancer. It would have had to be a totally different kind of cancer than I had before. He just thought that it was a case of an adult needing a tonsillectomy, which happens. So, when he got into the operating room, he was quite surprised that he found something suspicious looking in my left tonsil. He immediately sent it to pathology, then came the bad news.

So, he thinks that I actually had an infection superimposed over the cancer. So, really, having this case of tonsillitis caused me to find this tumour sooner rather than later. I have to see some bright side of this...lol!