Tongue cancer

Hello, robinegreif, and welcome to the CSN H&N discussion forum.

It seems you are very aware and on top of the possibilities of cancer occurrence and recurrence and very aware of what is going on with your body since you now have found and had determined something that is determined to be a pre-cancer in the area of previous cancer and another area also. You say tongue surgery for cancer is rare and only 5% of the population get it, I searched and can't validate that one way or the other. Although I believe that because it is not something often heard about.

I am not sure what your ideas are here exactly, I understand most of what you are saying.

My question is since you are now aware of 2 pre-cancers (Not cancer yet) what are the plans to address this issue?

So I looked up pre-cancer and found a great page explaining it from City of Hope and it seems a pre-cancer is most times something that is watched and monitored not treated at this time…

If a person is diagnosed with some type of dysplasia—whether in the
esophagus, colon, cervix, etc.—it doesn’t mean they will develop cancer.
It does mean they’ll need some type of surveillance and treatment plan
to manage it.

The takeaway is that a precancerous condition doesn’t mean a person
has or will get cancer. It simply means a person has an increased risk
of cancer, which should serve as a reminder for them to stay current
with medical visits and screening tests, and communicate concerns or
changes to their health care providers.

So Robin whatever aspirations you have in your life like voiceovers and singing jazz I would recommend you get on with this at whatever level you can and don't let anything hold you back and continue with your regular health screenings to keep watch on things, enjoy life and go for it.

I would also recommend you check out the Superthread at the top of the page there is loads of information in there with links and you will find it helpful.

Wishing You The Best

Take Care, God Bless

Russ

Dear Robingreif - hello…my husband struggled with leukoplakia for years before it turned into cancer, requiring tongue surgery in 2016 (they sliced off about a third of his lateral tongue). In his case, it spread to lymph nodes in neck about a year later, so there was more surgery, chemo, and rads. For the next three years, at one year intervals, a new patch of high grade dysplasia would develop at pretty much the same original spot. These patches were caught early, and treated by CO2 laser ablation. I'm writing this to tell you that at some point, there weren't any new patches. He's got problems aplenty, but leukoplakia and dysplasia aren't among them. Over time, yours may disappear too. In the meantime, stay vigilant, as I know you will.