I just wanted to take a moment to write a positive story here. When I first received my diagnosis at the age of 28 I was terrified and most of the stories on the internet made it worse. I don�t want to diminish the pain and suffering that many with oral cancer endure. I just want to give a positive story.

My diagnosis of a Stage 1 Grade 1 tongue cancer came in March 2008 and on April 4th I had a modified radical neck dissection and wide excision of the affected area of the tongue. The first week after surgery was hell, but the 2nd week was much better and I was even able to run a few errands. I returned to work after 2 weeks. After about 4 weeks, I was more or less back to normal. I�m a little over 7 weeks out now and I have nearly full movement back and no pain in my neck. I have a big hard spot where the lymph nodes were removed, but it is starting to soften up. My tongue feels a little strange and hurts sometimes, but I do NOT have a speech impediment and I have full ability to taste.

There is a lot of talk about recurrences on the internet, but good statistics are hard to find. If you Google Merck and tongue cancer you will find that the odds of recurrence are 12% if you quit smoking and 30% if you don�t. If you make all of your follow-up appointments, any recurrences will be caught and dealt with early.

There is also a lot of talk on the internet about 50% survival rates. It�s important to remember that those rates are mostly a group of older smokers/drinkers who are at risk for a number of health problems. Oral cancer is only fatal 25% of the time and most of those are advanced cases where the cancer has spread before diagnosis. My doctor tells me that if I lay off the smoking and drinking that I have a 90-95% chance of being cured.

This is all about attitude. Getting cancer has probably been one of the most positive experiences that ever happened to me. I highly recommend reading Lance Armstrong�s book and checking out the LIVESTRONG website.