Shayne,

My mom passed away a few years ago from oral cancer. She was 51 when she passed away. She, too, went to the dentist because she felt something on her tongue that she thought was an ulcer, but it started to hurt her real bad. He sent her to an oral surgeon who did a biopsy and found cancer on her tongue. She went through the surgery in January, 2008. She had part of her tongue removed and lymph nodes in her neck removed. She went through radiation. They were about to start chemo, but my mom looked so bad and she was so skinny from not being able to eat, she couldn't swallow her own salava, nothing. I got a call on July 1, 2008 (SIX months after her surgery) saying to come to the hospital because my Mom was not going to make it. SO SAD! She was in so much pain, looking like a totally different person, and all I wanted to do was hold her and just cry. I just could not believe how fast this cancer took her life. They said her throat was so swollen that she was only breathing through a pin sized hole. So they gave her lots of morphine and made her comfortable. Here I am almost 5 years later and it is still hard. I wish you the best of luck. Stay strong, as strong as possible. And I am here to answer any question for you.