Oh my goodness, as I read about your boyfriend you could have been easily describing my husband, Same age He has stage 4 cancer on the base of tongue which completly took over his tongue. The first signs were the clearing of his throat all the time then difficulty swallowing and talking. Labor day weekend he was in so much pain that he went to the ER he thought he has an absessed tooth. They gave his some antibiotics and pain med told him the dentist he did that and had a tooth pulled (needlessly) nothing got better he went back to the ER they took a CT and sent him to a ENT were he put him in the hospital for 5days treating him for an infection of the tongue with IV antibiotic and morphine drip. Sent him home for 5 more days with IV antibiotics mean whil losing 30pounds and not getting better he finally was going to do a biopsy but by that time I took him to a Boston ENT who scoped him and found it in minutes. THey tried to do a MRI and He couldnt even lie still he would keep choking so the Radiation Oncologoist went by the CT from the one at the ER in may. He had his first radiation June 29 he finished his last one august 11 with 2 chemos. THE most IMPORTANT thing for your boyfriend is to get the GTUBE he needs the nutrition. Brian could not get chemo at first because the drs said he wasn't strong enough because the lack of nutrition from not being able to eat. Please Do not wait any longer we no first hand. It took him from May to June29th to get his first treatment. You have to be your boyfriends advocate he will not be in any state to be able to speak for himself I had to have a Meltdown when I talked to the radiology dept. And explained the run around and time that had been wasted and they got me right in. The radiologist oncologist couldn't believe how long it took. He had my husband and fitted him for his mask ( be warned not a pleasant experience) that same day and schedualed his Gtube placement. So please make some noise.
Take Care
Take Care