Mark, what you said did not apply to my experience since I had sore throat for several months before diagnosis. My voice became a bit hoarse at the beginning of 2001 and all along I thought it was because I talked too much.I shouldn't have given myself excuse like that because I have been talking a lot all the years since I am a teacher! I didn't notice anything wrong and I kept on taking some kind of throat soothing candies. One morning in June, I had a severe pain in my throat and when I went to my family doctor, she said it was just acute tonsillitis and prescribed some antibiotics. I felt better for a while but the ache returned after a week and so I switched to another doctor. He gave me a few days' antibiotics and told me not to worry about it. The swollen left tonsil did not improve. I went to the same male doctor quite frequently to treat my diabetic problem. Every time I showed concern about my tonsil but he always told me to ignore it. He even said that I was not a suitable candidate for such cancer. Two months later, I woke up one day to find that my throat was very sore and decided to see an ENT who also believed that it was just acute tonsillitis and gave me antibiotics. There was no lump yet under my left jaw. The left tonsil was still swollen and so I changed to another more experienced ENT who also told me not to worry but when I saw him the second time, he realised how serious my problem was and referred me for further action in a hospital. The lump had already been formed in late August and it was growing fast in 2 weeks' time. When I was diagnosed in late September, it was the size of a goose egg already and it was a stage 4 cancer. I was held responsible for being ignorant in the first few months when I had a sore throat and a swollen tonsil that did not react to antibiotics. A lot of people told me that cancer did not cause pain and when my throat and lump in my neck hurt so much, I thought it was just infection.Besides, the 2 family doctors and the first ENT misled me,causing a delay of diagnosis (about 4 months). I have already deleted them from my doctors' list. They should be responsible for misdiagnosing me.

Karen stage 4 tonsil cancer diagnosed in 9/01.