Im very sorry you are having a hard time right now. Ive been away from home and gotten very ill. It is NO fun at all!!! Just being away from home and your regular doctors is stressful enough without all the new issues.

Please understand our group is made up of oral cancer survivors and their caregivers. We do not have years of medical education, training and clinical practice to earn a medical degree.

Im sorry your posts did not receive any response yet. Here in the US, your post came in at 2:29am and the second at 5:49am. The majority of our members are in the US and were likely sleeping so have not seen your questions. I suggest checking out our search function. The search function can answer many common questions instantly. Just type your keywords up in the small box near the top right of any page.

One thing I can advise you about is your stress levels. Stress can play some nasty tricks on the body, especially when not feeling the best. Stress is not helpful to any patient, it only makes everything more difficult. Some patients under too much stress from worrying will see major changes in their symptoms. This could have something to do with what you are going thru. I know you were very apprehensive about going on the trip.

I do not know for certain weather in only 24 hours cancer can cause the major changes you described. If I had to guess I lean toward saying its doubtful cancer can create those kind of changes in such a short amount of time. But I honestly do not know for certain.

There are doctors aboard every cruise ship. They probably have not ever seen oral cancer or an OC patient but they are medical professionals who should have some sort of idea about how cancer presents itself. I suggest to ease your mind to go see the ships doc. It cant hurt to get checked out. Maybe its something minor irritating your mouth and simple medications can help? Maybe steroids can take the swelling down?

Hang in there and try your very best to stay busy to keep from worrying too much.


PS.... This link may help you to better understand about how oral cancer is diagnosed. There are many links to read thru I suggest starting with oral cancer facts then discovery/diagnosis.


Main OCF site --- Understanding oral cancer