Hi Scared M,

Please let us know how your appointment went. We are all here for you.

I was actually able to see 2 different ENTs today, and am feeling - confused, I guess.
The first one was rather dismissively confident that everything was absolutely fine and normal, and tried to make me feel like I was being too worried.
The second one worried me. He mentioned that one tonsil was larger, that we had to keep an eye on it, check in 6 weeks, and mentioned the possibility/need for biopsy/CT scan. Well, that kinda freaked me out, because if there's the possibility, then why wait 6 WEEKS?!? But then he said that he didn't think it was cancer, that he's never been surprised by cancer, meaning that what he was seeing didn't look like cancer, and he really didn't think that I had anything to worry about.
but the mention of biopsy/CT scan freaked me out.

And when I asked him "why wait, what if it gets worse?" his response was "that's why you need to keep an eye on it every day."
WHAT?
So I need to everyday, look down my throat and wonder if the tonsil is getting bigger and bigger?

and he also said to gargle with salt water, because the enlarged tonsil was possibly due to a low grade infection.

Of course, I didn't think to ask until now - would it only affect one tonsil?!

The other doctor, the more dismissive one, just said that one was a little larger, but the it wasn't as big as it seemed, it was just that the placement of the tonsil made it look bigger.

But the other one spent a lot more time looking at more throat, so I just don't know what to think.

Unfortunately we are sometimes left to make these difficult decisions regarding our own health care. Understand none of us here are the experts you seek so we can only tell you what we would do facing your situation. I favor multiple opinions (I got 5 before I was comfortable) so if I were you I would make an appointment with a CCC in their Head & Neck Center, like Sloan or Johns Hopkins, and get their opinion. NO ONE can visually call cancer or dismiss it as not being cancer. Certainly this may not be cancer but IF it is it won't do anything but get bigger and spread to the nodes so I would err on the side of caution.

I completly agree. Cancer cannot be diagnosed with looking. My cancer was mistakenly ignored b/c everyone thought it was an ulcer. I am not a likely candidate for OC so that thought never occured to anyone.

I don't want to scare you and it could very well be nothing. But I agree with David. It's always better to be safe than sorry. I am also told to you look at my tongue and let them know if I see any changes. I have deligated that job to my fiancee. He knows what my tongue looks like better than anyone!!!

You are doing all the right things....go to the docs and get your questions answered.

Let us know when you have questions and feel free to send me an PM if you want to chat more.

I hate to say this...but I think there is enough of us here that the phrase, "I don't fit the profile" isn't plausible....Because there is something out there that is making us fit into this H&N/OC domain...Whether it's HPV or not, being fairly young, healthy, nonsmoker and casual drinker fits the profile very nicely for OC.

If you think of all 34,000 oral cancers that will present themselves in 2009 (USA) the average (median) age will be in the center of a bell curve. With all sample groups there are leaders and trailers on the bell curve. Unfortunately some of us will be on the leading edge. I was 40 and considered young by all. In the grand scheme, the people here in the forum are probably not a good statistical sample. Computer access and willingness to surf the web for help is going to skew the numbers towards the younger half of the bell curve. People with more severe treatment effects or more dire prognosis will be more likely to seek help. For these reasons we need to be careful not to draw conclusions about the whole 34,000 based upon what is seen here. All of this said, it seems that there is a trend towards a younger average age.

Scared, you should continue to resolve this issue for yourself. Keep in mind that it would be very rare for this to be cancer. That doesn't mean I know it isn't cancer, it just means you should not "think" this into a freak-out. Because it is far more likely that this is some other common problem (like infection, etc) your Doc's will likely treat it that way. This is wise "normal" and prudent medicine. If everyone with a sore throat got a biopsy we would need way more pathologists.

I am not suggesting you become complacent either. Stay on this until it is resolved. A biopsy and CT scan would be a logical step for you if the gargle dosen't get you results. You shouldn't be afraid that ordering those tests is "proof" that you have cancer. They likely will confirm this is NOT cancer and that would be good news.

Be sure to ask lots of questions of your Doc's when you see them.

Good point, Ray. The "profile" idea needs to be thought about in a different way.

Now that I've been thinking about it, I am confused - why did one ENT say that my one tonsil wasn't actually that much larger, that it just looked it because of the placement, but the other ENT just said that it was enlarged? Which one is right?

I have decided for now to wait the 6 weeks and then go back to the ENT, partially because I think at this point, any ENT is going to probably just similar stuff like "wait and see" anyways, and partially because I literally need to stop thinking about it, because I am losing sleep, and am so tired during the day that I find it hard to function normally. And with young kids, that's just not a good combination. I'm so terrified about this that almost the instant I put the kids down, I'm up for hours online, looking at stuff about oral cancer and freaking out.

Thank you all for replying to me. I will be checking back in 6 weeks, and I hope at that point, will have some definitive and POSITIVE news.

Mark,

You're right with everything you said. But, for months I had to listen to two doctor's that said I didn't fit the profile. One even told me that even if it was cancer not to worry that OC grows very slow. Well, when I finally got to an ENT that really took control and saved my life it was growing very fast...And then I found this site...I was flabergasted with all the young people here, I did not expect to see people in their 20's, 30's and early 40's. Let's hope they find a cure for HPV and anything else out there that gives anyone this cancer. I'm still amazed with the youngins here that don't seem to have OC because of HPV. Let's hope this disease declines in all age groups in time. I don't like the 11 percent increase though.

And scared M--please calm down and remember it's not cancer until they tell you it is...My mother recently had a very sore throat for two weeks and had a spot/sore where her tonsil use to be...they did a biospy and it was nothing. Her risk factor is 60 years old and a smoker for 40 plus years. It wasn't cancer so the way she see's it--it's okay to continue to smoke. I suppose wake up calls don't exist.

As Mark said...follow the advice of your doctors but be prudent...I should have went for a second and third opinions from the first two....Be active but don't get overly excited.

Scared M,

Sometimes doing too much research and reading on the internet can make it worse. If you read symptoms you can pretty much convince yourself you have every disease out there.

As hard as it, try not to worry until you have something to worry about.

Keep us posted and I'll be thinking about you.