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Tongue Cancer: What are my treatment options?

Head & Neck Cancer | Last Active: Apr 27 12:04pm | Replies (93)

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@newtonguecancer

Well I just had the second tongue surgery December 6 so hopefully it is from an infection or something. If not the gland is very new to being swollen because I just saw my Dr December 15 for follow up from the surgery. Also the pathology report showed me evidence of lymph channel involvement after my surgery. If it does turn out to be cancer it would mean that I had a level one tongue cancer only 3 mm and no lymph channel involvement that would have to have somehow gotten to the lymph node wo showing it had invaded the channel. I also had a clean pet scan but the Dr said if it was less than 7 mm it doesn’t show up. Also I was living my life normally recently and would not have caught this at all had I not been going in for my first radiation treatment. Maybe all tongue cancer surgeries should do a biopsy of some lymph nodes to be sure because this would be very hard to understand how it got through all of these pre cursors. If it is in the lymph nodes I have to decide whether to go to t to the original surgeon or one at Sloan Kettering what are your thoughts? The Dr at John’s Hopkins said I should stick with same surgeon. I certainly knowing what I know now would have insisted on a node biopsy after the surgery

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Replies to "Well I just had the second tongue surgery December 6 so hopefully it is from an..."

You mentioned that the swollen node is noticeably and rapidly disappeared, which seldom happens if it’s cancerous. It may be a one-off event of infection fighting or inflammation and not an indicator of cancer involvement. It’s worth a phone call or a note via portal to your doctor /radiologist oncologist to see if the biopsy is necessary at this time before scheduling any surgery for removal.

If you do need the surgery, my suggestion is to go with your gut on this one. If you trust your current surgeon and have a good professional rapport, it’s worth staying with the person who is familiar with your case. It sounds as though they work collaboratively with JH and that’s important. What’s your gut saying?