Well I went ahead and set-up a follow-up appointment with my ENT, or I should say I called their office and left a message to set one up.

I simply can not ignore this. I had a coworker look in my mouth and she said she doesnt know what shes looking at but she sees one side is redder than the other and thats just not cool in my book.

NOTHING in Medical literature I have been digging up says that reddish tissue on the tonsillar pillar is anything but BAD NEWS. Dysplasia at best, SCC at worst is what Im reading. Even on this site that Brian has put together the Cancer exam instructions on this site say that redness on the tonsillar pillars should be noted.

So Im going to go back when my appointment is set and ask for a Biopsy of the pillar, I figure it cant be that bad and its worth it to either put my mind at ease or get started with treatment. I hate to say it but I got a good feeling if it IS CA that its gonna be pretty late stage, because its not just the redness on the Pillar, its the ongoing slight hoarseness in my voice, the enlarged tonsils (the right one seems to have a tiny polyp on it now), ringing in my right ear getting worse, the pain in my neck which I attribute to lymph nodes etc etc...

I think It would be irresponsible of me to let it go...

What bothers me is my ENT was highly recommended by several people, friends and other doctors, and he thought nothing of this redness when he looked in there. He also put that thing down my nose and looked in my throat and said my vocal cords were fine. Moreover when you shine BRIGHT light on it, it doesnt look very red, but if you have a low light source it REALLY stands out from the other tissue. So I think maybe it "hid" from him when he shined his equipment light on it. The other thing I dont get it is I dont drink or smoke, and I dont understand how HPV would have caused so much damage in a year and a half.

I hate this because everything I read is disturbing for me now. I was reading through the archives and read the story of a poor guy on this forum (I wont name him out of respect) who was only a STAGE I at dx and died a year later!! These neoplasms are supposed to be more aggressive in us youngsters so what kind of hope is that supposed to leave me with.

Yea Im screwed, and im only 22 Im so frustrated right now. I started out a year and a half ago with tons of vague symptoms and thought I had everything from HIV to Panc Cancer in the time that has since passed. One of my initial thoughts was Lupus and it took them a year to find that. Then I finally got that under control and now this crap. In retrospect HIV would have been a blessing compared to what this might be.