Cathy,

I did have surgery and they removed a 1.5 cm tumor from the left side of my tongue. They removed a portion, sort of like a pizza, and pulled it together.

The Dr's felt they got it all and did not recommend further treatments. They did not stage my cancer as it was a very early catch . The pathology called it Benign Squamous Mucosa, Verrucouos Carcinoma. I am not sure about the names, and understand somewhat what that means thru internet research. I feel blessed.

I was out of work 5 weeks, and the The healing is very slow, and yes very frustrating. The Dr's told me it could take up to a year to find out how much feeling I would get back. My speech is somewhat impaired, and much worse when I am tired. The Dry mouth was there before, and is now worse. Sometimes my mouth feels very sore and tongue feels swollen.

I always watch for suspicious spots, but don't want to appear to be a big baby about it.
When I noticed new spots I went to my dentist, and we have been watching it for 14 days, but I just don't feel comfortable with his examination.

He is wonderful, don't get me wrong, but he didn't recognize it the last 3 times either.

I pulled my next exam with the H&N in a few weeks to help me with the anxiety of it all.