When my ENT did my two tongue surgeries, he removed pieces and sent them to pathology right away so he could be sure of margins. And with the first, we were not even thinking cancer. Thankfully he planned ahead. The samples were also frozen so other doctors could study them, which was handy during second opinions while planning our first treatment.

Yed, mine did come back and I am facing more treatment, but if he had not been quick to check and particular about margins, this could have gotten a whole lot worse very fast.

Good luck finding a better doctor!

Surgery 5/31/13
Tongue lesion, right side
SCC, HPV+, poorly differentiated
T1N0 based on biopsy and scan
Selective neck dissection 8/27/13, clear nodes
12/2/13 follow-up with concerns
12/3/13 biopsy, surgery, cancer returned
1/8/14 Port installed
PEG installed
Chemo and rads
2/14/14 halfway through carboplatin/taxotere and rads
March '14, Tx done, port out w/ complications, PEG out in June
2017: probable trigeminal neuralgia
Fall 2017: HBOT
Jan 18: oral surgery