I was diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma of tongue 14 years ago. It all started with a small white lesion on the left side of my tongue that never healed. I didn't pay attention for another 8 month until I went to see a local ENT doctor. He took biopsy right away and called me few days later and told me it was SCC stage 1 well differentiated. He suggested me to go to see radiation oncologist although he felt the surgery was the best way to treat what I had. When I went to see the radiologist, he also recommended surgery instead of radiation. My ENT doctor recommended a head and neck specialist to perform the surgery. I had a surgery on 7-24-1992, only two month after the initial biopsy.
The surgeon told me that it was very rare for a person like me that never smoke and rarely drink alcohol at age 38 to get a tongue cancer. I think I was lucky to be able to take care of this at early stage.
The recovery was a slow process, but I am a 14 year survivor... and counting.

Welcome Echo and congratulations on being a 14 year survivor! It gives us all hope.

Hi Echo,

Welcome to the OCF and congratulations on your 14 year success in beating scc. Other than the fact that I was 59 years old, your story is very similar to mine.

Unfortunately, today it is not so rare that many people getting oral cancer have no known risk factors.

Jerry

Congratulations. Stories like your's help us all.

Best regards and continued success.

Echo C, Thanks for that message.I will brighten alot of days. Amy

I had partial left glossectomy in 1992 with 19 nodes from left side removed (all clear). The surgeon spent 7 hours by cutting the section in 3 small increments with sending the samples to pathology each time to make sure the margin was clear yet not cutting too much. When I woke up in ICU, I felt I had tubes coming out from all over my face and gauze stuffed in my mouth. Before the surgey, the doctor told me that I might have to have speach thepary and/or corrective surgery to improve speach. Fortunately, I didn't need any although it has been a long process to get back to near normal. Since the nerve on the tip of my tongue did not grow back completely, whenever I am tired, I feel my tongue is tired too and can not escape my chewing food. I could feel I bit my tongue but not very painful except there is a big gush of mark with blood coming out.
Something else came out during the initial head and neck MRI was that I had small growth in the back of head near left ear. The surgeon told me it is in a very difficult area to get to, so he decided not to remove it but repeat MRI every 3-5 years to observe. I had MRI 4 times so far since then, but the size never changed. I wondered how long I had this growth in my head? If I didn't have tongue CA, I would never had known this.
I think it is wonderful to have a forum like this to exchange information. When I was diagnosed 14 years ago, computer was not as popular as now and information I could find was very limited.

Welcome Echo,

Your story is one of hope, and one we all appreciate reading about.

Thank you for sharing with us.

Scott

Echo,

I'm excited to see a 14-year survivor who only had surgery and no radiation or chemo. Don't get me wrong, I am happy to read messages from ALL survivors, but I often think about my own treatment and wonder if I shouldn't have had radiation in addition to my surgery.

My SCC was removed with good margins and no affected lymph nodes, so no radiation recommended. But, it makes me feel a lot better to see someone else who also had the same treatment and is doing so well.

Welcome to the forum and thanks for your post.

Jennifer

Awesome to hear from you Echo, loved to hear about your 14 years and counting....gives me hope.....Take Care, Carol

I'm with Jen.
It is soooo cool to hear about 14 year survivors.
Congrats and keep up the fight.
-rh