I am very worried about my Dad. He is 85 years old and a very stoic person who does not like to show his pain or let on that he is in pain.
As far as we know, his actual pain started 6 months ago. First with an ear ache in his left ear which then progressed to pain in his jaw. His GP sent him to an ENT in April 09 and was told it was TMJ and to take ibuprofin for the pain. Mom reported that Dad was in much pain after eating and had trouble eating. In the beginning of May he had noticiable swelling on left side of jaw. He told Mom he had a lump in there the size of an olive. My sister who is an RN came into town for Mother's day and urged dad to see his dentist as he wears dentures and therefore TMJ would not be an accurate diagnosis. Sister also observed lump to be more like the size of a plum, not olive.
Last week Dad finally saw dentist and he immediately sent him to an oral surgeon. APparently dad also has a lesion on his gums (on bottom of jaw as he has no teeth in the back).
Oral surgeon scheduled a biopsy for the next day and set him up to see a new ENT tomorrow.
We still have no results yet on biopsy and I am worried sick about my dad. If the OS sent him to a new ENT does this mean he has strong suspicion of OCF? WHat kind of prognosis would an 85 year old man have for this type of disease?
Thank you for listening.
Tym