Hi I have been fighting some symptoms for 6 weeks. I have had swelling and pain in my right ear and neck are for this period of time. I have also had numbness and tingling. Another symptom I have had is a feeling of something in my throat when I swallow.

I finally had a CT scan done after AB's, steriods, and a lot of head scratching by my family dr. The ENT scheduled the CT. Anyway, the CT did not show anything in my ear or neck area but found a "swelling" in the back of my throat at the base of my tongue on the same side as all my other symptoms. I go Monday to have the scope down my nose to look at the swelling.
My paternal grandfather died of throat cancer and my mother died of breast cancer.

Does anyone know what a "swelling" means? Could it be a cyst or tumor or just as it says swelling?

Hi Brenda,
Welcome to the site.

Pain is actually a good sign - usually that of an infection. Many of us with late staged cancers have had no pain symptom at all. If you have something like PTA (PeriTonsillar Absess) for instance, it is very difficult to treat with antibiotics (it requires a long term antibiotic treatment plan). PTA could give you all of the symptoms you describe.

CT's are incomplete data. The "swelling" could be anything. "Swelling" often times simply means that the anatomy is not symetrical on the scan. Usually this is done with a comparison to a previous or baseline scan or simply comparing the affected side to the unaffected side.

The "direct visualization" exam is more important (at least that's what my head & neck surgeon told me). Don't fear the scope, it's really not a big deal. They spray a little numbing agent and there is no pain before or after.

I don't believe that, generally, oral cancer is passed genetically, it's typically caused by environmental reasons Like using tobacco or exposure to other irritating substances, like alcohol or drugs.

It's great that you are on top of this. Better to get an accurate diagnosis now while it's highly treatable. Be sure to let us know what the outcome is.

Hi Brenda, I hope what Gary said about pain symptom applies to your situation. For me, I felt the sore in my throat for several months, sometimes better sometimes worse. Worse after I ate some spicy food or after I talked for a long time. So people around kept on telling me that it couldn't be cancer because cancer tumor does not cause pain.I believed in this and what added to it was I had never heard of tonsil cancer in my life. It was due to my oversight and ignorance that my diagnosis was delayed to such a late stage.If I had come across this forum earlier, I would not have suffered so much. My advice is although we shouldn't worry about things beyond our control, we shouldn't rule out all possibilites before things are confirmed.My wish is that you are able to stay away from the OCF family when your doctor confirms that it is just infection.Best of luck.

Karen stage 4 tonsil cancer diagnosed in 9/01.

Hi Karen,

How long did you have discomfort for? I have had it for 18 months now and the ent never did find anything except for tonsil stones in the right tonsil. I haven't been back to him for two months, but over the past year have been to him about 8 times. Have had two scopes (about 10 months ago), nothing to even biopsy he said. Some days are pretty good now, but a sore right sided throat for 18 months! Wouldn't I know by now?
I'm sorry for what you went through.

Hi Mich4, the discomfort lasted for over 9 months when the ENT showed concern and referred me to the hospital for a thorough check. Initially, I discovered that when I talked especially teaching my students, there seemed to be a layer covering my voice but when I looked at my throat, I did not find anything unusual. Then my left tonsil started swelling gradually until a day I found it very painful and went to my family doctor who said it was just infection and gave me antibiotics and the pain reduced but the tonsil remained swollen with irregular edges. I went to another doctor who said that it was nothing to be scared about and the swollen tonsil might stay with me for life.More antibiotics but no reaction. In between the time, I had a severe cold with sore throat that lasted a week but I recovered from that without seeing the doctor. So I thought my body was strong .After I recovered from my cold, a lump developed on my left neck and again I was not concerned because it was very common for me to have this in my past and it usually disappeared after 1 to 2 weeks without medicine. But this time, I was wrong because it got bigger and bigger, much harder than previous lumps I experienced. There was occasional pain when I moved my neck and then I went to 2 ENT for checking. They still felt nothing to be afraid of until I took so many antibiotics but both the tonsil and lymph nodes (2, one of the size of a goose egg and one of a golf ball!)did not respond. There came the final verdict everyone knew.
I often blame myself for my ignorance and over confidence of my body. I seldom took any sick leave in my job , not more than 5 days in my 20+ years of teaching. With the cancer, I took 7 months! Ha!
Hope my story alerts people to care more about their body.

Karen stage 4 tonsil cancer diagnosed in 9/01.