Hi everyone. I had no risk factors for oral cancer...no family history, never smoked a cigarette in my life, only drink maybe one drink a week with dinner, if that...yet, on my 24th birthday I had a biopsy done after being bothered by what I thought was a canker sore for a couple of weeks. I got the results back shortly after that, just 1.5 weeks before my wedding nonetheless. It turned out I had tongue cancer, borderline between stage 1 and stage 2. I had surgery done this past October, 2 days after I was married (having our honeymoon in the hospital was a real joy :\) by a great surgeon who was able to remove the entire tumor without needing to do any reconstruction/skin flap. He also removed all the lymphnodes from the right side of my neck and the salivary gland there as a precaution. All the edges of the removed section of tongue plus lymphnodes and gland returned negative for cancer. Therefore it wasn't recommended that I get radiation at this time, although I have check-ups scheduled with a radiation specialist for the next year or so. They also tested me for HPV, but I was negative. Who knows why I got oral cancer...bad luck I guess.

I guess the reasons I decided to join this board are:
1. To find other people like myself who were young without risk factors.
2. To have support as I constantly worry about every bump or pain I get anywhere close to my mouth. For instance...I burned my tongue on some hot coffee yesterday and now today, since my tongue still hurts and has a few tiny bumps on it, I'm dreading my cancer has returned. I'm pretty sure this must just be the result of burning my tongue, but I'm just so paranoid all the time. It'll be nice to get support from other parnoid people in remission and advice as to when to alert the doctor outside of my 6 week check-ups.

I look forward to being a part of these forums. Thanks in advance to everyone for your help and support.

-Jen