Hello Shelly,

Glad to hear your husband is doing well. There are so many different emotions both of you will be experiencing over the next couple of months. It is truly a rollar coaster ride for awhile. It sounds like you received some sound advice from the above posters. Your now part of a huge international cyber family with a goal of increasing survival rates for Oral Cancer through educating everyone we can about early detection. It is a dedicated group of people.
You are not alone in your battle. Knowledge about oral cancer will empower both of you.

My best wishes for a speedy recovery and good check ups,

Danny Boy

Hi, I am going for a biopsy tomorrow. I have been looking and reading about oral and tongue cancer on the web and am pretty scared. My dentist saw a white patch on the underside of my tongue yesterday. I'm 43 and quit smoking about 4 years ago. I make my living by speaking, so the possibility of losing that ability to the extent that I have it now is sobering. I welcome any and all advice!

Randy K

Welcome Randy,

Sorry you had to find us, but glad that you have. I will be sending out as many positive vibes and prayers as possible for your biopsy to come back negative. Sure do understand your being scared. Sounds like your dentist is a good one to have discovered the patch and set you up for biopsy so quickly. You will get plenty of great advice and love here. Take a deep breath and try to relax. Positive thoughts.

Jack
..........
Dx 1/15/97 SCC rt. tonsil met to rt lymph node Stg IV,
Srgry 1/23/97 tonsillectomy & mod radical neck dissection,
Radiation 35 trtmnts both sides

Welcome Shelly & Randy,
As a caregiver to my husband I was on the internet alot searching for information. I found & still find every aspect of this website helpful. Please do not be concerned about asking questions or seeking info. You are among friends & no matter what you ask, someone is our cyber family will have an answer or know where to find it. Shelly, hang in there, stay strong & seek help whenever you need it. It sounds like your husband is healing quickly which is due in part I am sure to your caregiving skills!
Randy, I hope your biopsy & results are good. I know you are very concerned & that the next few days will be stressful. Think good thoughts & try to keep busy! I'll be thinking of you & sending you positive thoughts!
Laurie

Thank you, friends. Hoping for the best tomorrow...I know where I can go for good advice and support if I need it. Thanks for answering me and thank you for the thoughts and prayers. Thanks so much for having the site and participating with your expertise. I know that you all are doing a lot of good for those who come here, you already helped me.

Shelley, thank you for the information on your husbands situation. It helps to understand what is going on in each of our members' treatments. The prayers come easier that way. I used to live in Calif., where is North Hills? I lived in the San Fernando Valley, Newbury Park, and Oxnard during the 60's through 80's. I used to work by the Kaiser hospital in Woodland Hills.

Randy, welcome to the site. Sorry you had to find us to help you understand this disease, but we are here to help. Will pray for a good outcome to the biopsy and it will show no cancer. Have you had this spot for long? Try not to worry. We have a saying on this board that its not cancer until the pathologist says it is, so don't worry about something that can be a simple infection, or scrape mark. If it turns out to be something, we are here to help as we have all walked that path.

Hi Kirk, North Hills is in the San Fernando Valley, it just use to be called Sepulveda. Did you go to high school out here? Small world...I have a question for you and anyone else out there. At the end of my husband Ron's 3rd week of radiation he woke up one morning coughing up blood clots. He couldn't breath so we had to call the paramedics. Long story short, they had to put a trach in his throat to keep his airway clear, and he wound up in ICU for several days because they had to pack his throat to get the bleeding to stop. His blood was not coagulating the way it should, they guessed it was from malnutrition (he hadn't been eating enough because his throat was so sore), the radiation, and he had taken a couple of aspirin (not realizing they are blood thinners). They got the bleeding stopped but kept the trach in until he finished treatment, just to be on the safe side. It's been a little over 2 weeks since he finished the radiation, but his throat will sometimes start bleeding when he coughs up the mucus. He gets so nervous every time he sees blood, I know that previous episode scared him to death (as well as the rest of us). Did you experience coughing up blood? His ENT doctor said to expect that because his throat is so "trashed" from the radiation, but it's so scary. When this happens we give him ice chips and put an ice pack on his throat, but was wondering if anyone else has any advice?

Shelley, I think I liked it better when it was Sepulveda. I guess everything is going politically correct these days. I went to high school out in Thousand Oaks, west of the valley. My brother went to Van Nuys high school, though.

Regarding the bleeding, I am very sorry Ron had such a bad time with blood clots. I was lucky, I had only spotty bleeding internally, even just after a tonsilectomy. If I coughed/gagged enough, I would sometimes bleed a little. It sounds like Ron had it a lot worse. I also had external bleeding from the radiation as it had cracked my skin in a few places and I had to keep it protected to avoid infection. I can understand being scared after a thing like that. Did Ron have a peg (feeding tube) during his treatment? I had one and only lost 25% of my body weight (50 pounds). I'm sure I would have lost much more if I hadn't had the peg. I would make sure the doctors know of his continued bleeding, as I don't think it is that common. They should keep their eyes on it. I assume Ron is no longer taking aspirin and has switched to Tylenol. If not, he should as Tylenol avoids the blood thinning issue. Hope all goes better for you all. Will pray for Ron's continued healing.

Welcome Shelley

Sorry you and your husband have had to go through the radiation journey. It is not easy but hopefully your husband is now free of cancer. As you know radiation doesn't discriminate and kills healthy as well as diseased cells so many of us live with very dry mouths. We manage though and live full and happy lives. This site is a wonderful support, as you will now know.

Love and light from Helen

Hi Shelley, I hacked up red blood and dead tissue for a while after radiation - it's pretty common. Never hurts to check in with the doctor though. If its bleeding heavy I would go to emergency, but a few drops here and there is pretty normal.