Im glad that everything has turned out for the best and you have fully recovered. Its very good that the cancer did not get into your jawbone, that would have been a much bigger surgery. Im sorry but I do not know what the term keratinizing means. Best of luck with your continued good health.

I am glad that this was caught early and something was done to take care of it. Sounds like your dr is on top of things which is real good. I am not sure of the keratinizing as I don't remember seeing that on my results. I was also low on the risk factors. In dealing with things as time has gone on we believe it is something in my genes. Keep the positive attitude, it will take you far. I recommend keeping an eye on things in your mouth in the future and if you ever notice anything get it checked out. That is how I caught my recurrence after two yrs. We all have to be vigilent as this stuff is sneaky and can be peristant.

Thank you ChristineB and BrandyK. I appreciate both of your posts. I guess I am just getting a little anxious for my three month appointment coming up next week. I appreciate the time you took to post. If you do not mind me asking, how did you know that it came back? Did something just show up on one of your scans?

We all get nervous when it comes time for our check ups. Its good that we see our doctors on a regular basis. They know what is normal looking and what isnt.

The first time I had a recurrence I had a tiny canker sore which looked almost exactly like the first time. It was even in almost the same spot inside my cheek. The results were not a surprise since it was so similar to my original tumor. My surprise was that I had a clear PET scan about 2 months before the recurrence.

About a year later, I had a problem with a very painful bone spur sticking out of my gum. I thought it was just a fragment leftover from having my teeth removed. While I was having it taken care of, my physician's assistant told me there was a spot that didnt look very good. He asked if I wanted to do a biopsy right then or wait for 2 weeks and see if it goes away. I told him do it immediately, I even skipped the novocaine. I was in shock when it came back that I had cancer again. This time I felt great, not sick at all.

Best of luck with your check up.

For me it was different. Nothing showed up on the scans and I kind of had two recurrences. The first one was a bump/sore under my prosthetic. I thought that my prosthetic was rubbing on a some tissue and just needed an adjustment. A biopsy was done and of course it came back positive. They did laser surgery. A month or so after that I found a couple more spots in the back of my mouth along the upper teeth and my doctor did a biopsy on one and it came back positive. It is then they decided to move forward with chemo and radiation.

The interesting thing about my PET scan is that the area that hurt the most and was the main tumor spot was not the spot that was lighting up on the scan. All of my stuff was found through biopsies.

I can understand being anxious as well as most people on here can. Try not to let it take over your thoughts. Try to keep your mind off of it as we can't let it win. Will be keeping you in my prayers.

Thank you both very much. You both are an inspiration. I try not to let it bother me and most of the time i do not. Sometimes it gets to me. I will however mention that i am good at checking my mouth out. I think I check once a day before i go to bed. No one can really tell me why I got it, but it has to be either hereditary or from not taking care of my teeth. I also just read that the mercury fillings are not as safe as they once though so maybe I will have those removed. The hereditary part I cannot control as I have never met my birth family. But I can control the taking care of my mouth. Thank you for your information.

You are very welcome! I am very open about everything that I have gone through and if it helps someone else that is awesome as this stuff SUCKS. I have heard the same about mercury fillings but those can easily be replaced by your dentist with the new ones.

Kudos for checking your mouth regularly. Keep that up and keep up on taking care of your mouth.

ok I see no one has told you about the keratinizing. I kind of remember learning about it in anatomy class. Squamous cells are in many different places in the body. There is some that is keratinized and some that is non keratinized. It's nothing to worry about.
found on a website - keratin is part of a family of fibrous protein and is usually found in the outer layer of skin, hair and nails. So nothing to worry about.
Glad you don't have to go through radiation or more invasive surgery!! Hoping it stays that way.
I was one of the lucky ones that they don't know why I got mine either. They say hereditary, but who really knows.
Hoping you don't have to deal with this anymore, other then clear scans and no further treatment!!

Thank you very much for the information. i was just wondering about what it meant. My doctor did not tell me much other than he got it all and to come back in three months for a checkup, which is tomorrow. I am a little anxious but I guess that is normal. Thank you everyone for all of your words and I hope you all have/had a great holiday and a an even better new year.

That's a really good report. The tumor is small and "well differentiated", which means it remains in one tissue type, probably lymph tissue (like the tonsils).

Poorly differentiated tumors will invade any and all tissue types, including muscle, bone, etc. Those types of tumors tend to be very aggressive and, hence, more difficult to treat.