i've had ongoing mouth problems for over a month now. i'm conerned about them, and will be seeing a dr. but i wanted to know what everyone else thinks as i will not have insurance for another 2 months.

let me see if i can recall how everything started and then go from there.

first, i think, was that my throat (far back of soft palate, near the uvula and tonsils) was covered in tiny little bumps. they almost look like water blisters, almost like something that would normally be there?

then, about 10 weeks ago, i began to have lots of respiratory problems as i began work at my local newspaper. i am at the front door, so i see many customers and my phone is used by people other than myself. there are respiratory viruses running rampant around here.

about 5 weeks ago i got a chronic sore throat. it comes and goes even multiple times a day. lymph nodes are enlarged and painless, as they have been for more than 5 years (i have been biopsied and nothing was found at the time.)

then i got a horrible breakout of ulcers on my tongue. they ran around the edge from halfway back to the same place on the other side. i also began to be unable to swallow. realized my tongue was swollen and rubbings against the sharp edges of my teeth. i think it was maybe a salivary duct stone as i found a place of pain, massaged, and had an instantly gritty feeling between nearby teeth.

i thought it was resolved, but now i am noticing that my tongue is swollen again in the back, and that my left tonsil is so enlarged that it is deforming my throat? also under my jaw i have an enlarged area that seems to be related to the tonsil. i thought it was a lymph node, and given my history, had not given it much thought.

my fear is cancer of the tonsil. indolent lymohoma was never properly ruled out. i also was on a medication for years that caused me to drink and smoke excessively.

i am 24 years old, female.

i guess what i am asking is if any of this seems overly alarming to anyone with some inside knowledge. Should i be okay to wait until my husband's new job provides BCBS insurance? I don't want to have a pre-existing condition that would keep me from getting coverage when i really need it ... but i don't want to wind up with extensive damage or terminal illness as a result of waiting for another 10 weeks.

i DO have an ENT doc who would see me ASAP if i ever called him. I had an interesting deep-neck abcess a couple of years ago that really interested him and was highly unusual. So, both he and his partner remember me with a bit of affection ... which is always helpful when trying to get into an office that sees 100+ patients a day.

any advice is appreciated. if any of my symptoms strikes someone as a warning sign, please let me know.

as of now, i'm planning to worry but wait until the BCBS kicks in.

Thanks.

Things to consider that i did not mention:

my 13 month old son recently has begun attending daycare. his first center was attended at 10 months of age. he recently started at his second place.

he's brought home MANY common childhood viruses.

secondly is that after 2 or 3 weeks of the chronic sore throat, i got a terrible sinus problem. i still have post-nasal drip and possibly a slight bronchitis.

finally, there is the issue of a cavity in my back two molars on the top left side of my mouth. when having them filled, my nerve was so inflamed that it blocked all anesthesia and the dentist was unable to finish the proceedure.

don't know if any of that may help make sense of what i am experiencing, but thanks.

Mrs. zebra, welcome to the site. Sorry you had to find us. I would be concerned if I were you. That said, I had stage IV tonsil cancer and never new it was there or felt anything other than a swollen lymph node finally. The tiny little bumps could be a sign of an infection such as tonsilitis. All together, and given what you mentioned about Blue Cross, Blue Shield, I can understand what you are considering regarding your insurance. BCBS, by the way, is what I had during my treatment and they have been superb. To date they have paid upwards of $500,000 for my treatments and have been the best. So you are in good hands there, or will be soon. The choice is yours as to wait or not. 10 weeks is a long time, but they estimated I had had my cancer for 18 to 24 months before it was diagnosed. Then it was 8 weeks before treatment began (chemo/rad, the tonsilectomy was done 2 weeks after diagnosis). So its your call as to whether you want to wait or not. My prayers are with you that you will make the right decision.

Hi mrs zebra, I did have an enlarged left tonsil for more than half a year that did nt respond to any antibiotics. I thought (so did my doctors) that it was just tonsilitis that could be cured. I realized my voice had changed a bit and it sounded if a layer was covering it. People around didn't notice it and after I talked a lot or ate some spicy food, it could change raspy. I ignored the problem and there was a time when I had very severe cold with sore throat. It went away after a week and everything went well again but the enlarged tonsil was still there with a lot of irregular small bumps on the surface. Then the lymph node started getting swallon and within two months, it changed from a peanut to a goose egg. When I was diagnosed , it was T2N3M0, a stage 4B tonsil cancer. If I had been a bit more knowledgeable or cautious, the cancer could have been caught much earlier and I didn't have to suffer so much. I realize you have the insurance problem to consider but bear in mind early detection makes a whole world of difference. I always think how different the medical situation is between your place and mine. I never have medical insurance and since I work for the education department in the government, all the medical charges are covered and I only spent less than $500 on my hospital charges during treatment. Kirk Georgia, yours is three zeros more!That's one great blessing I have counted: I need not worry about medical expenses.So mrs zebra, move things faster and of course the best scanario is that your problem is nothing related to cancer.

Karen

update on my situation:

today, near the end of work, i got a headache, became slightly lightheaded, and just generally felt ill.
came home chilled and famished (but i'd not eaten all day, so go figure.)
spoke with a guy at work who mentioned that we are getting a new building next year. i've noticed a lot of water damage in the building and i *know* there there is a lot of dust in the buiding. everything is covered with a dusting of airborne newspaper ink!
one of the reporters mentioned that she is constantly ill with respiratory problems and allergies during the winter months when the heater is running.
my allergy/respiratory history is long and dramatic.
my son and i are a having a coughing/wheezing duet tonight.
i definately feel ill (like, a good, normal kind of ill) ... my throat is sore on the other side today and my tonsils both seem to be their regular size, but scratchy. the arch that the uvula hangs from ... that is what is malformed so much today.

personally, i think this is too inflammatory to warrant any sleepless nights, but i'm going to keep an eye on it. if i don't see continuous signs of improvement or normalcy, my mother is going to help me go to my ENT (so as not to bankrupt my little family.)

Plans are underway to be an ex-smoker (as well as to have dragged my kicking and screaming husband along with me) by the time i am 24 (just a few more weeks!) i meant to have quit long ago, anyway, so i am far beyond overdue. i'm pushing 10 pack years, so that's quite enough of that, thank you.

i will definately keep everyone updated ... but i am feeling very positive today.

i doubt i would be here had i not lost two friends to cancer during the week of the last days of october and the first of november.

but then again, i wouldn't have frightened myself into taking better care of myself and in learning a few lessons in bodily awareness.


thanks again, you guys. and good luck with everything that you are dealing with. you've got great attitudes and are all very kind!

Mrs. Zebra, I hope you have allergies and childhood illnesses brought home, and anything but oral cancer. That said, I want you to be very serious about quitting smoking, and your husband too. Not only is it harmful for you both, but of course for your son, as I am sure you know. It might motivate you to check this out:

http://www.sptimes.com/News/61599/Floridian/He_wanted_you_to_know.shtml

You are always welcome here, but I would prefer to see you as a visitor rather than as a patient. I will keep my fingers crossed for you.

no kidding, Joanna!

i've spent a lot of energy worrying over obscure lymphomas and such things as risk factors, etc for that.

but i never spent any time thinking about cancers i was *likely* to get.

talked with the husband last night and we decided to focus on preventing things much more likely.

so i'm going to make sure i see my OBGYN on a regular basis. make sure he does a testicular self-exam on the day i do a breast self-exam.

i'm going to schedule regular dental appointments for the both of us -- including requesting oral cancer exams.

we're going to get regular physicals, and i'm focusing on improving the family's eating habits (though we aren't living on twinkies now, lol!)

i'll never be one for denial, and that is a blessing even if the wariness gets tiresome at times. Hubby's aunt died of cancer just a month or so before he met me. my grandfather died of cancer caused by drinking/smoking (most likely the reason for Hubby's aunt's cancer as well.)

lovingly scolded hubby last night that he was welcome to be a fatalist before he got married and had a child, but our lives are not our own anymore. it's time to grow up and stop putting our well-being aside for another day =)

that being said, i've got a good opportunity coming up on the 15th. i have to go back to the denitist for another attempt to fill my cavity, and i'll have her take a look-see while i've got my mouth propped open.

and since my mom came to visit me, caught our virus, and had an unresponsive sore throat for a month afterwards, i'm also thinking about getting a strep culture done sometime this week.

then i'll either have some answers, or have some things ruled out.

and hubby is going to inquire about the insurance to see if maybe i am eligible no matter what. if so, i'll run over to the ENT ASAP.

oh, and just so that everyone knows ... if only we cared for ourselves as much as we do our son.

We have live in one of the most anti-smoker households owned by smokers. We moved into our place when i was expecting our son and i have never let anyone smoke inside ... regardless of weather.

no one is allowed to smoke near the door or any open windows.

i keep my hair tied back and make sure the wind doesn't blow smoke back onto me.

i have smoking clothes, lol. i take them off the moment that i get inside. then i wash my hands, brush my teeth and clean my mouth, drink some water, etc.

the same rules go for my car because my son travels in it.

and the best thing is, smoking is getting really old because of all of my rules! I used to be able to stand outside all day long regardless of weather, but now i find that the weather and rules keep me inside more and more.

i'm really optimistic about quitting this time. the last times i tried i was fairly successful, but i was on a medication that made it virtually impossible to quit. it caused so much anxiety that i always felt like i wanted to smoke.

i feel like i am running close to a deadline, though. my son is getting older and more observant ... and i do NOT want him to ever take a chance with smoking. addiction runs rampant in our families.

for me, it only took the first cigarette ... scary stuff.

Mrs. Zebra, if you need a support group, you just check in here. You will never find a group of people as anxious to help you stop as everyone here is. Many of the people here never smoked, but there is a direct relationship between tobacco use and oral cancer, not to mention a host of other things, so we are 100% behind you. Sounds like you are on the right track, so good luck and go to it!

Joanna, i think i will take you up on that. i'm going to have to think of a good plan and then focus hard.

most of the reasons that i still smoke have very little to do with the addiction of any sort.

i'm just going to focus on all of the reasons that i never intended to become a smoker at all. and that should lead me to a good plan for quitting.

it's so easy to put things off because they seem simpler to cope with "tomorrow." but that kind of thinking is dangerous when it involves tobacco!