I am mad and angry!!! I was supposed to be at the ENT's office right now getting my results of the biopsy. Instead, I am still home waiting for answers. The secretary at the office called at 1:00 and said that the path results have not come back from the lab yet and she called and they had no info yet. They said that when it is done, they would fax it to the ENT's office and when they get it, they would give me a call to schedule an appointment. I am mad!! I was finally going to get some answers today, and instead, I am left to wonder. I have had so much anxiety building up to this point and I can't get it over with. Ahh-now I feel better after I vented that!! Well, you all will know when I do.
Desiree'

Desiree,

I don't know how well you know this Doctor's office and I'm not sure it matters. But, I think I would leave a message for a call back from the doctor.

They ususally call back at the end of their day. I'd explain that you are unsure, anxious and frightened and getting the results delayed is adding to the stress. See if he'll intervene (sp)with the lab. After all they should want to keep him happy so he continues to refer to them.

It can't hurt to ask. My last go round with my gastro he had people giving him results in a day. This is scans, blood, mri's and such. Still don't know how he pulled that off.

And if he doesn't help, come back and vent....

Take care,
Dinah

Desiree'

I am so, so mad for you! As with many people today, it seems, their job turns into a routine. I'm afraid that some (most, in our case) lab techs lose sight of how much importance is in each of those reports. When it is a personal matter, though, we have to be our own advocates.

My husband and I have been in luck getting our lab results, but only because we demand "wet" readings. These are test results that are read immediately, directed to our doctor and then given to us as soon as possible. Usually, before we leave the doctor's office. ( A trick taught us by a good friend who is a radiology tech )

In the future, please express your anxiety, and see if this term gives you any earlier results.

Saying a prayer for you tonight,
Mandi

Well, thanks for your advice and here is what I plan to do. If I do not recieve a phone call today from the ENT, I will be on the phone tommorrow morning, first thing, and demand to speak with the lab that the biopsy's were sent to or have my doctor call and make sure that mine get done that day. The problem I have is that my biopsy was done in an outpatient surgery center. It is at a local hospital that I am not the fondest of, but because I work for the other local hospital and was not pleased with their doctors handling of my case, I had to have a second opinion which involved an entire health system to which I would not have been to otherwise. For the most part, I have been satisfied with the way this doctor is handling my case (treatment), but you would think that there would be JUST A LITTLE rush on a biopsy for a 24 year old mom of 2 that has so much anxiety! I told my doctor "what if it is cancer" when I was in the office and he said "doesn't look like to me, but I need to go down your throat with my hand to feel and with the instruments to see more". After the biopsy, he was not so forward with what he thought and said "we have to wait for the pathologist to look at the tissue and make a diagnosis. I have been wrong as much as I have been right" and that is how he left it. Believe me, when I see him in the office, I plan to tell him that it was unprofessional of him to leave it that way because it made me feel worse. He should either tell me he thinks it may be cancerous (the lesion) or that he still thinks it is nothing, and then tell me we have to wait for the results. But not to tell me either way what he thought leads me to suspect the worse! Oh well, woe is me and you guys have so many more worse problems than I do, but I am glad you are here to listen and let me vent!
Desiree

Okay guys-new problem!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I went to the ENT for my biopsy results today. Thought, hey, finally going to get some answers about this darn sore throat and ear pain. WELL, the ENT said that the report shows B and T cell hyperplasia which is very suspicious for cancer, but is not a clear cut "yes" you have cancer, or "no" you do not. SO, my ENT said he called his "friend", an oncologist and they want me to come in ASAP and bring in the slides of the biopsy so that he can determine what he thinks and where to go from here. Then I had to call the lab where my biopsy was looked at by the pathologist and request that they send the slides to the Oncologists office by FedEx which is overnight, but since the FedEx guy already came before I called, the slides will not go out until Monday and the office will have them on Tues, but not by any specific time. Plus, I work on Tuesday, so it seems that I will have to wait all the way until Weds morning to see this Onco. guy. My ENT said that he thinks it is base of the tounge cancer(and to refresh your memories I am 24 and do not smoke or drink and have 2 kids, a one and two yr. old), but he thinks it is small and just the beginning. He said that when he did the biopsy, the tissue was very abnormal and bled very easily and he thought that with the pain in my ear and the way the lesion looked, it was probably cancer. So, if it is, he said that it is very treatable/curable. Funny thing is that I am not scared if it is cancer, I just want them to treat it already. I wanted to get it started, like, yesterday if you know what I mean. Has anyone else been in a similar situation? I was just thinking that I would have a clear answer today and since I do not, I guess I still won't be able to totally relax. I told the doc, even if you told me it definitely was cancer, I won't be too upset. Just tell me we are going to do something about it right away! Well, I am rambling on. Thanks for listening and I will be back on Weds, maybe before to let you know how things work out. I have learned one thing so far, when dealing with Cancer and all its aspects, you have to be a "patient" patient.

One of the finest oral, head, and neck cancer centers in the entire world is in NY, Memorial Sloan Kettering. I think you should take your things, slides, films, etc., what ever you have, and go there. Soon. Next week. It is a multidisciplinary center, and they will know what you have, and they will get treatment started. I have said many times before here, that this cancer waits for no one, and a stage one can become a sage three or four in short order. You should quit messing around with these local guys and get to a major center where you will be the focus of attention from the best minds, eyes and hands in the world before this gets out of hand. A multidisciplinary center is where you want to be if this is cancer. Concerned with work, family, etc.? Call in all your markers get friends and family to cover for you with everything, and get your butt moving. This is your life on the line, not anyone else

To echo Brian here, I went to Yale New Haven for my surgery and Memorial Sloan Kettering for my radiation. I chose Yale for the surgery because, in addition to the fact that they have a great program, it just felt right for me. MSK was where Yale sent my slides for a second opinion, it was an aggressive SCC that warranted confirmation. In fact, the issue was that yale read the slides differently than the path lab and MSK confirmed the Yale reading. The point here is that if you are in NJ you, and for that matter your doctor, have THE place to go to have these slides read right next door, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. One last thought, if a second biopsy is required MSK can do it all in house. I don't know where in NJ you are but I am in Westchester County, NY and these were, I belive, the best facilities in my area.

Brian,
Although I completely agree with you that the young lady should go to Memorial Sloan Kettering, I do have a question about speed. Obviously you want to find out whether or not you have cancer ASAP, for peace of mind. But how quickly does a tumor grow? After my biopsy was positive, MD Anderson still took their time getting the ducks in a row...I saw the dentist, met with all of the multidisciplinary team, had all the scans, had the mask made, etc. and did not start treatment for almost a month after diagnosis. So my question is...how critical is it that treatment be immediate?

Desiree...I know how you feel. Before I was diagnosed I went to an ENT who prescribed a barium swallow to see if I had reflux. One of my closet friends is a radiologist who did the swallow and Xrays on a Sat. morning. First of all there was some difficulty at the hospital getting the slides processed. Then when my friend looked at them and saw the tumor, he kind of dodged me for the rest of the weekend until Sunday night and I was freaking out wondering whether I had cancer or not. Although I am twice your age I was healthy and did not smoke or drink either. The waiting and wondering is the hardest part. Those of us who have been diagnosed tend to be pretty calm...but those who are wondering are bouncing off the walls.
Best of luck with your situation. I echo what Brian said...I have heard nothing but good things about Memorial Sloan Kettering.

Danny G.

I did not think the issue here was as much the delay in formulating a plan of treatment as it was finding out, definitively, if this is cancer. My point was to skip this step;

SO, my ENT said he called his "friend", an oncologist and they want me to come in ASAP and bring in the slides of the biopsy so that he can determine what he thinks and where to go from here.

And get the slides and patient to what is the local authority on the subject - MSK. In closing I would add that my tonsil cancer spread to my tongue and went from "It feels like it is in your tongue as well" to "That was not there 2 weeks ago" in ..... 2 weeks.

Okay-read your replies and they are appreciated, very much!!! Brian, I do not want to upset you by this, but I did go to Memorial Sloan Ketterings Website and read up on their care. I agree 100% that that would be the place to go, IF i lived in North Jersey or NY. Fortunately for me, I live in South Jersey and right over the bridge is Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, which also is a hospital that only deals with Cancer. And since I work in a hopsital that is affiliated with them, their docs (including the oncology group that I am going to see) comes to our facility daily. I have spoken with a few people and a nurse who used to work with that group, and she said that they are very competent physicians. They have no personality, as she puts it, but they will get the job done. I am relying on these doctors to take one look at the slides and give me my diagnosis. If this does not happen, I will for sure be taking everyone's advice and head to MSK for my second opinion. Right now though, I do not believe it is a necessary action because I have not yet even been to see the Oncologist (whose office I already had my slides sent over to) for his opinion. If he can give me the diagnosis I need and am axpecting (base of tounge cancer), I will have no need to go elsewhere for treatment. Besides, if I did go to MSK for a diagnosis, to continue with their protocol for treatment, and if that treatment were radiation, I would have to make a daily commute of 3 hours round trip for a 15 minute zap on my throat with 2 toddlers in tow. I cannot expect my mom or mother-in-law to stop working and paying their bills so that they can accomodate me by watching my children. What is best for my family and my piece of mind is staying as close to home as possible for now. Hopefully, if it is a very early and treatable stage of cancer, it may "only" require radiation and I will be "like new" again. I am praying for that to be the case! Agian thatnk you for your posts and I will continuew to update you on my progress!