Mouth sore

cardoza33
cardoza33 Member Posts: 81
in Head and Neck Cancer #1

I am 8 months post treatment.  Have had 2 clear scans and one visual exam a few weeks ago.  I still have issues with thrush.  I have notices a small white mark at the back of my tongue where it meets my gum.  Right in the corner.  It almost looks like a crack in the corner of your mouth you get when you have thrush.  It's white, does not look red and inflamed.  Its sore and I feel it when I eat, otherwise I don't notice it.  This is the same side I had tonsil cancer.  My tongue  on that side still has issues from radiation. Could this be caused by thrush?  Should I make an appointment with my ENT?  I feel a bit stupid since I was just in there, but you all know how our minds get working.  Thank you for any imput.

Comments

  • CivilMatt
    CivilMatt Member Posts: 4,724 Member
    edited September 2016 #2
    life with my tongue

    cardoza,

    In some ways my tongue feels just like the day I left rads, kind of funky, & tingly.

    My tongue is a lot more white then it was pre-cancer.  Mainly, from the lack of saliva.  My ENT suggested more xylimelt lozenges or to go on some kind of prescription.  He even mentioned it looked like thrush.   It is not thrush, I have no symptoms.  He decided it was bacterial growth from lack of saliva (gross).

    If you are concerned, don’t hesitate, don’t pass GO, call your doctor.

    Matt

  • Tonita
    Tonita Member Posts: 197 Member
    edited September 2016 #3
    CivilMatt said:

    life with my tongue

    cardoza,

    In some ways my tongue feels just like the day I left rads, kind of funky, & tingly.

    My tongue is a lot more white then it was pre-cancer.  Mainly, from the lack of saliva.  My ENT suggested more xylimelt lozenges or to go on some kind of prescription.  He even mentioned it looked like thrush.   It is not thrush, I have no symptoms.  He decided it was bacterial growth from lack of saliva (gross).

    If you are concerned, don’t hesitate, don’t pass GO, call your doctor.

    Matt

    I agree with Matt.  The

    I agree with Matt.  The doctors understand and that's what they are there for. 

  • SylMarie
    SylMarie Member Posts: 91 Member
    edited September 2016 #4
    I second Matt's suggestion.

    I second Matt's suggestion. Why take any chances? When you see anything different in your mouth that does not go away completely in two weeks, get it checked out. Don't even think about it.  Just do it. I learned that the hard way and will never wait again.

    Take a breath, call your doc, make an appointment, and take it one step at a time. It's probably nothing, but it's better to know.  Good luck to you!

  • cardoza33
    cardoza33 Member Posts: 81
    edited September 2016 #5
    SylMarie said:

    I second Matt's suggestion.

    I second Matt's suggestion. Why take any chances? When you see anything different in your mouth that does not go away completely in two weeks, get it checked out. Don't even think about it.  Just do it. I learned that the hard way and will never wait again.

    Take a breath, call your doc, make an appointment, and take it one step at a time. It's probably nothing, but it's better to know.  Good luck to you!

    Took your suggestion

    Thank you all for the suggestions.  I immediately went into see my ENT Monday, he understood and told me to come in with anything.  He saw the spot and said, "its doesn't look like a cancerous lesion to me."  He thinks is mucositis from radiation.  He gave me some ointment to promote healing and will check me in 3 weeks.  So there was no bad news there, but why am I still soooo  stressed with anxiety anyways.  I think it has to do with the time of the year.  It was this time last year I was recognizing symptoms which lead to my diagnosis in Nov.  Man, it feels like this crap will never end.....

  • armana
    armana Member Posts: 97 Member
    edited September 2016 #6
    cardoza33 said:

    Took your suggestion

    Thank you all for the suggestions.  I immediately went into see my ENT Monday, he understood and told me to come in with anything.  He saw the spot and said, "its doesn't look like a cancerous lesion to me."  He thinks is mucositis from radiation.  He gave me some ointment to promote healing and will check me in 3 weeks.  So there was no bad news there, but why am I still soooo  stressed with anxiety anyways.  I think it has to do with the time of the year.  It was this time last year I was recognizing symptoms which lead to my diagnosis in Nov.  Man, it feels like this crap will never end.....

    Welcome to your new normal

    I am two years post treatment and still anxious to see a Dr for regular checkups. Any time my foot hurts the first thing comes to mind is foot cancer, and if allergies bothering me, then I am worried about recurrence of head and neck cancer. The anxiety gets better as time passes but I am not sure if it ever will go away.

    Arman

  • swopoe
    swopoe Member Posts: 492
    #7
    armana said:

    Welcome to your new normal

    I am two years post treatment and still anxious to see a Dr for regular checkups. Any time my foot hurts the first thing comes to mind is foot cancer, and if allergies bothering me, then I am worried about recurrence of head and neck cancer. The anxiety gets better as time passes but I am not sure if it ever will go away.

    Arman

    My husband is the same way,

    My husband is the same way, Arman. Yesterday, he showed me a bruise on his leg and told me he had been googling leukemia. I told him that he needs to calm down. Easier said than done, I know.

    Anyway, he did have a spot in his mouth back in August. His doc also thought it wasn't cancer, but biopsied it anyway for piece of mind. It ended up being tissue necrosis from radiation- not cancer. So there are many things that it likely is and not cancer. Hang in there. Hope the spot goes away soon.

  • Tonita
    Tonita Member Posts: 197 Member
    edited September 2016 #8
    cardoza33 said:

    Took your suggestion

    Thank you all for the suggestions.  I immediately went into see my ENT Monday, he understood and told me to come in with anything.  He saw the spot and said, "its doesn't look like a cancerous lesion to me."  He thinks is mucositis from radiation.  He gave me some ointment to promote healing and will check me in 3 weeks.  So there was no bad news there, but why am I still soooo  stressed with anxiety anyways.  I think it has to do with the time of the year.  It was this time last year I was recognizing symptoms which lead to my diagnosis in Nov.  Man, it feels like this crap will never end.....

    I think that once you have

    I think that once you have cancer, even though you might be clear, the fear of recurrance never leaves.  Just keep moving forward and keep busy.  I don't know how you can not worry about it.  Time will help.

  • slk2015
    slk2015 Member Posts: 54
    #9
    Thrush

    Having been a diabetic for 45 years, I am quite familiar with trush (sadly).  Years back, it was believed I had trush and it turned out to be both thrush and oral lichen planus (which did not go away until all my teeth were pulled).  Glad you did not have the problem.  (Doctors can look at a scraping and tell for sure if you have yeast, should the issue come up again.)

     

    About 3 months after my glossectomy, I had a white patch that concerned the ENT so they biopsied it.  It was fine.  Seemed a reasonable precaution.  I'm sure there will be other such times.  I consider it to be my doctor being very cautious and thorough.

     

    Because I had sores that weren’t cancer, I started taking pictures of the sores.  Now, I look back and see if the new sore looks like one in the past that healed.

     

    As Tonita said, the fear of reoccurrence is always in the back of your mind.  Part of the reason the fear exists is at least my oncologist/ENT says that does happen and is very concerned about it, especially if one had no risk factors.  It can be worrying but you do what is prudent, as that is all you can do.  This is one of the things you can't control, only react to.  That's frustrating.

     

  • cardoza33
    cardoza33 Member Posts: 81
    #10
    Progress

    Well my ENT gave me some ointment to put on the sore to promote healing.  Its been since Monday and it has improved considerably.  Today is the first day I can eat without pain.  It looks like its healing.  Now that it has recovered it looks like it started out as a small cut.  I talked to friend who is 2.5 years old of this cancer and we discussed my diet.  I was still in the get as many calories as you can mode to try and gain weight, when he advised against that.  I was getting to much sugar and other elements that made the sore worse, like the strawberry smoothies I was eating at least 3x per day.  Not only has it healed, I am feeling much better with my improved diet.  Thank you everyone for the assistance.  Tony

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