I have been a smoker for almost 10 yrs. I have two ulcers in my mouth, one on each side of my tongue. One is painful almost all of the time. The other is occasionally painful. I've seen two doctors, a dentist (for another reason, and he wasn't concerned with the ulcer at all), and a pathologist. After scraping the ulcers, the pathologist assured me it wasn't cancer. To make a long story short, I've had the ulcers for a year now. I have no insurance to help with any bills, and don't know what to do. I have recently had a terrible sinus infection, and the lymph node under my arm is swollen and painful. It's been that way for a couple of weeks, and I'm scared to death that it is swollen because of cancer, and not just the infection. If anyone has had similar symptoms or has any advice, please contact me. Thank you!

Nicki,

Please make an appointment with an oral surgeon and/or oral maxiofacial surgeon, or even a general surgeon and get a bio done. This is essential to catch oral cancer in the early stages. If you don't have insurance, explain that to them. Most will make arrangements for payments. Please just don't wait and longer, the sooner cancer is caught the better your chance of survival. Please keep us posted.

Anne.

I agree. A biopsy now is not expensive and really needs to be done if you have had something like this that has not gotten better over the course of a year. Please get it checked. The earlier the diagnosis of something bad, the better the final outcome.