I'm 47 years old, non smoker, drink so little it probably doesn't count (maybe 2 beers a month), have had for sure one girl i dated for a few years (several years back) that had been diagnosed with HPV and had cervical cancer concerns (polyp removal & biopsy) that didn't amount to anything for sure back then & to this day i think.

a year or so back i had to go to the hospital to get food dislodged from my throat. the doctor didn't see anything with the scope that alarmed him or appeared cancerous. said i had a benign esophageal stricture and recommended throat dilation if problems persist.

the difficulty with swallowing food always seems on relation to my hurriedly eating things without drinking a little something first. i try to chew a little more, drink water with meals & slow down with my eating. if this problem has gotten progressively worse I'm not aware of it.

sometime in January i noticed one of my tonsils looked different than the other one. didn't think much of it at the time, figured I'd keep an eye on it. fast forward to now & i can say that it's definitely gotten larger. i feel fine, no infection I'm aware of, no swollen lymph nodes.

so, i do some research on why it is my tonsil might be swollen and, from much investigation, the possibility of it being due cancer seems to be a very realistic possibility. I'm basing this on my risk factors, symptoms & comparing my tonsil picture to pictures of cancerous tonsils on the internet.

another separate (or maybe related situation, i can't say) situation is my tonsils getting occasional tonsil stones in them. i try to keep them cleaned out, limit my dairy intake, brush & floss religiously, gargle with salt water, basically try to keep them in check. because of this though, I've been wanting to get my tonsils out and am basically ready to do that (financially as well as personally).

for reasons which don't matter at this point, i don't have health insurance. if i did, i would have already pursued investigation/ treatment of whatever this is. i do have the money to have a tonsillectomy at a cash based medical facility in my state. i called them today & am waiting for a call back regarding the surgery.

my questions are -

1. what, if anything else, can cause just one tonsil to progressively swell over the period of a few months that isn't accompanied by some symptoms that would present themselves with an infection or feeling sick?

2. if this were to be cancerous and in it's early stages, given my lack of health insurance, doesn't it makes sense to spend my money trying to do something (cutting it out) versus pursue a definitive diagnosis and have to stop there from lack of funds to move forward. my concern here is catching it before it metastasises. (I've read of first hand accounts of people doing this, i just couldn't find those posts (not here necessarily) to ask those persons to expand on their situations.

* I'm looking to be that much more knowledgeable in preparation to speak to the surgery center.

sorry that was long, i look forward to any opinions.