Hi Meg,
Like Dan, I had a stage III/IV right tonsil cancer. My first symptoms where a little hoarseness and a mild cough at first. As the tumor got larger it felt like something was caught in my throat. At that point I started persuing a cause with my GP. I went through a couple rounds of antibiotics and some some routine bloodtests done with no results. My wife then noticed that at night I sounded as if I was choking. I would actually stop breathing. The tumor had gotten large enough, 6cm x 3cm, to actually block my throat cavity. She tape recorded it and it startled me enough to make yet another appointment with the GP so I immediately called him and he politely declined stating I needed a referal to an ENT. After another month passing while I processed my fear (mainly of a needle draining procedure as I thought it was a peritosillar abcess), I finally went. He took one quick look and told me that I had an advanced cancer and to get my affairs in order. My head & neck surgeon estimated it had been there for over 2 years.

I started smoking in my late teens and quit in my early 20's, started again in my late 20's and quit my the time I was 30. I also am a recovering alcoholic with 10 years of sobriety. I had hepatitis back in the late 70's and drank mainly beer from that point on, after a year of total abstinence. I was a periodic binge drinker, which means I did not drink every day. I was also a high functioning drunk, i.e., always held a job and also fooled many people. Many of my close friends were shocked when I confided that I was an alcoholic, some had worse denial than I did. Most modern alcoholics these days are not the down and out types you see on TV (like Ray Liotta on ER last week) or the seedy part of town. I also smoked pot for many years. Any or all of these may have have been causitive factors. Certainly they were aggravators if nothing else.

Hope this helps.