Thanks DB... I appreciate your words of encouragement.

Heres a question... I am beating myself up also because my original appt. was for June 8th and I was out of town so I wasnt able to make it.

Do you think a major change could occur in those 21 days that would change its stage because I waited if in fact I do have something?

BTW... I took some pictures if any doctors or dentists want to weigh in.

Ian,

I'm a dentist and I can tell you that it would be almost impossible to tell you anything from a photograph, nor would it be a good idea for me or anyone to do so.

You would be amazed at how different cancers look and nothing is better than getting a biopsy to find out what it is.

Good luck with your visit to the ENT on Wed. and let us know what is going on.

Jerry

Hi Jerry...

Thanks for the advice. I noticed with your SCC they also removed 30 lymph nodes and it was still considered stage 1. I am pretty worried right now because my neck and shoulders are bothering me quite a bit but I still cant see anything. Were the nodes removed in your case just as a preventitive measure?

I guess another question, I know I mentioned sore throats and hoarse voice... A reddish patch next to my tonsil most suredly would not be responsible for all that but I imagine it could have spread from further down? So confused with this whole thing. Its so hard not to spend my time dwelling on this. As if to make the situation even more confusing, after taking a closer look at the pictures I took and looking in the mirror under bright light it seems the left side isnt much different than the right after all, its just the redness on the right side seems to be slightly more defined at the edges than the redness on the left side.

I guess Ill see what happens on wednesday. There is nothing like thinking that as of Wednesday, my life could change forever. Its like the difference between B.C. and A.D.

Ian, you are doing the sensible thing by following up with a specialist. He/she worked hard and long for that medical degree and I think you can trust them. If not, you can always get a second opinion. If you are really concerned that the throat problem has something to do with your sexual encounter may consulting a sexual health specialist would be a good idea. I worked with a girl once who got an STD (Ithink it was gonnoreah) in her throat. She had a week in hospital and we all visited her. No one in our office had heard of catching it in your throat before that. I truly wish you well and hope that it gets fixed soon. I had chronic tonsillitis myself, for no less than 6 years as the G.P. did not believe in rushing into tonsillectomy. I had them out at 17 and never looked back. Tonsillitis is pretty gruesome to look at and hellish painful. Take care, try to relax, be kind to yourself, and find a doctor that you can trust.

Well I went to the ENT today...

He looked at my Anterior Pillar and Posterior Pillar and said he didnt see they were unusual at all. Looked all in my throat, said my tonsils were big but people sometimes have big tonsils and if they arent causing me pain or difficulty to leave them alone.

Then he stuck that scope down my nose and into my throat and said everything looked ok down my throat. I was in such a daze and tizzy I forgot to ask about the tightness in my neck and neck pain but I guess Ill have to keep an eye on it and see what happens.

I kept feeling like asking him to do more, but the truth is at least in the office, looking and inspecting and feeling around is all he can do, so I suppose thats that for now.

Thanks everyone.

Ian, I am happy for your clean check. The tightness and pain in the neck is very possibly caused by the stress of this worry. Try your best to put this whole idea of cancer out of your mind. In a couple of days you might be surprised that the pain and tightness just go away.

Thanks Mark,

I still have a little discomfort. I guess at this point what primarily worries me is that I noticed that the red patch on my tonsillar pillar (posterior) when under BRIGHT direct light like at the ENT's office, it blends in with the rest of the skin around it, BUT if I look at it in LOW light, like for example in fluorescent light or in the rearview mirror of my car, it is clearly redder than the rest of skin around it. I dont know what to make of that.

Ian if there was a problem I am sure the ENT would have seen it when he scoped your throat. They look for lots of things other then color such as changes in tissue.
You don't want cancer. You can trust me on that one also. Now that your tests looked fine go out and enjoy your life and thank God you didn't have it.

Blessings and peace,
Barbara~

Thanks Barb,

Your kind words are certainly reassuring. I will probably have to go back and see him or another ENT regardless because I am still suffering from the Tinnitus in both my ears, and the most disturbing symptom, which is a dull moderate pain that radiates from my jaw all the way down through my neck muscles and into the right side of my chest at various intervals during the day. This ONLY happens on the right side. The other day it was bad enough to give me a headache.

My worry is that this pain could be lymph nodes enlarging and pressing against arteries or nerves... Who knows, the brain can come up with many scenarios but its not going away on its own

Well I went ahead and set-up a follow-up appointment with my ENT, or I should say I called their office and left a message to set one up.

I simply can not ignore this. I had a coworker look in my mouth and she said she doesnt know what shes looking at but she sees one side is redder than the other and thats just not cool in my book.

NOTHING in Medical literature I have been digging up says that reddish tissue on the tonsillar pillar is anything but BAD NEWS. Dysplasia at best, SCC at worst is what Im reading. Even on this site that Brian has put together the Cancer exam instructions on this site say that redness on the tonsillar pillars should be noted.

So Im going to go back when my appointment is set and ask for a Biopsy of the pillar, I figure it cant be that bad and its worth it to either put my mind at ease or get started with treatment. I hate to say it but I got a good feeling if it IS CA that its gonna be pretty late stage, because its not just the redness on the Pillar, its the ongoing slight hoarseness in my voice, the enlarged tonsils (the right one seems to have a tiny polyp on it now), ringing in my right ear getting worse, the pain in my neck which I attribute to lymph nodes etc etc...

I think It would be irresponsible of me to let it go...

What bothers me is my ENT was highly recommended by several people, friends and other doctors, and he thought nothing of this redness when he looked in there. He also put that thing down my nose and looked in my throat and said my vocal cords were fine. Moreover when you shine BRIGHT light on it, it doesnt look very red, but if you have a low light source it REALLY stands out from the other tissue. So I think maybe it "hid" from him when he shined his equipment light on it. The other thing I dont get it is I dont drink or smoke, and I dont understand how HPV would have caused so much damage in a year and a half.

I hate this because everything I read is disturbing for me now. I was reading through the archives and read the story of a poor guy on this forum (I wont name him out of respect) who was only a STAGE I at dx and died a year later!! These neoplasms are supposed to be more aggressive in us youngsters so what kind of hope is that supposed to leave me with.

Yea Im screwed, and im only 22 Im so frustrated right now. I started out a year and a half ago with tons of vague symptoms and thought I had everything from HIV to Panc Cancer in the time that has since passed. One of my initial thoughts was Lupus and it took them a year to find that. Then I finally got that under control and now this crap. In retrospect HIV would have been a blessing compared to what this might be.