Hi, Drew.

Please don't ever apologize for coming back to these forums. You are always welcome here!

I'm sorry to hear that your symptoms are progressing. Getting a second opinion is a good idea.

When I was first diagnosed, I was half way through my second pregnancy, so a CT with contrast was out of the question, so they did an MRI without contrast (which is not the first choice for all MDs). I think since I had an excisional biopsy which confirmed SCC of the tongue, they did the MRI in order to estimate the size of the mass. I'm speculating here, but either an MRI or CT with contrast would be the first choice in case that there was no tissue to biopsy. I have a friend that is a CT technologist and he said most doctors will not even bother getting a scan of the neck without contrast due to the dense anatomy in the area.

So, I think that an MBS and a scan with contrast to the head and neck makes sense to me. Just make sure that you get a second opinion from an experienced head & neck oncologist who has sees hundred of cases per year.

Best wishes and here's to hoping that they can get to the bottom of this, which is nothing serious. Please keep us posted.

Take care,
Kerri