Morning 

I could of written this post. 
I found a lump in my mouth a few months ago went to the dentist told nothing to worry about now I'm struggling with chronic sore throat and burning sensations in my ears and neck. 
 

I have my first ENT appointment on Tuesday and I'm really scared as I don't want to leave my boys

I hope things work out positive for you xx 

Good evening. I hope everything turns out well for you too.

Dealing with something like this is scary enough, let alone the longer waiting times due to backlogs caused by Covid - it's not really helping!

From what I've gathered from doing research on the possibilities it seems as though if the worst case scenario does happen, there is a fairly high survival rate and can be cured with just surgery if caught early enough, so silver linings i suppose. Please, if you feel up to it, keep in touch with how your appointment goes :)

I hope all goes well for you x

Good evening.

Thank you for taking the time to reply with all of that information. It's nice that there are lots of other possibilites for what this could be. Sadly due to Covid i haven't been able to see a doctor in person for a little while as I am someone who was told to shield, so the doctor only saw the small clear lump on a picture that was quite awkward to take as its at the back of my mouth!

I suppose as this is the first time i'm dealing with something like this and I suffer from health anxiety as I have quite a lot of unrelated health issues as well it makes the worrying that much worse! Your reponse has eased some of the worries though as I haven't managed to find anything else the pain and lump could be apart from the possible mouth cancer and my doctor didn't give any other conclusion on what it could be but only stated it isn't an ulcer and could possibly be mouth cancer. So thank you very much. 

I was supposed to have a denist appointment just a few days ago but had to cancel it due to a household member coming down with covid symptoms (all clear though!) so i'll mention it to her when i manage to get an appointment again. 

Thank you for your response, it is greatly appreciated. 

Hi Chloe.

Something I forgot to mention..  Mouth cancer is categorised as "Head and Neck" cancer.  There are no specific statistics for mouth cancer, but there are for Head and Neck cancers.  The incidence of H&N cancers for people aged 23 is in the region of 1 in 100,000 per year, which makes it highly unusual.

GPs are trained to refer for quick evaluation anything which is even vaguely suspicious, but given your age, the chance that this is mouth cancer is really tiny.  Of course, it is quite possible that the consultant will want to go through the motions and give you a battery of tests just to be 100% certain, so don't panic if these tests are mentioned. You may end up having an MRI and a panendoscopy, just like I did.  And it turned out well for me.

Please could you let us know how you get on at the appointment.  Your experiences and feedback allow people like me to write better answers in the future. 

Can I ask what symptoms you had Iam aware this is an old post but Iam suffering with persistent sore throat now 

Hi I know I am not the person you are asking the question to but I have just had a partial glossectomy for tongue cancer. My initial symptoms were sore throat predominantly down one side, the ear on the same side felt full or slightly blocked, occasionally earache, increased saliva on the same side and the most predominant thing was reoccurring ulcer on one side of the tongue which suddenly turned into a small white hard lump that protruded above the surface. Not sure if this helps?

Thank you for your response, Iv had tonsilies strep for like 3 months now and the last case was an ulcer on left tonsil and left side was inflamed and larger than my right side, saw ENT who gave me more antibiotics and steroids and sent me for blood tests and mri. Mri has come back but haven’t had a call yet to discuss as I have a follow up appointment on the 27th that was booked prior to MRI just hoping it’s all ok as Iv been reading on here about symptoms and how blood tests and mri don’t diagnose cancer and biopsy does and most people have been having one tonsil bigger than the other. 

MRI will show if cancer has spread to other organs (I say if, you may get good results and not show to have cancer, I have everything crossed not just fingers for you). But no, MRI can miss it and blood tests wouldn't show cancer either, only anomalies like low red or white count. A CT scan is more reliable but in the first instance it would be biopsy as that is the path I followed. It's frightening, the waiting, I totally understand and it's good to do your research so you are at least a little prepared. Try not to overthink is the best advice I can give at this moment. Hard I know as it's a real thing happening to you. All you can do is wait and try to stay positive even if you are diagnosed with cancer. I trust in every medical person I have interacted with so far, you will be in the best hands and there are so many survivors out there it gives you hope. Good luck and know you're not alone and people care x

Thank you it’s just hard I hate the waiting game I had my mri on my neck with contrast on the 7th and when I called they had my results by the 11th but again secretary wouldn’t give me any indication of what the results are just to wait for appointment assuming surely if something was wrong I would get a phone call but again that’s my wishful thinking to try and think positive I just don’t know how it works as I have never been down this scary route before. Hope you are doing well? Xx