Scared. Possible tongue/oral cancer.

Hi. I'm a 33 year old single mum currently trying to care for my terminally ill mother (stage 4 oesophageal cancer) and an 11 year old son. 

For a good number of months now I've had ear pain on and off and pain at the back of my tongue. Because I have been supporting my mum through her own cancer diagnosis etc i didn't do anything regarding my own health. 

5 weeks ago the ear pain became constant and antibiotics, ear drops and an ear spray made no difference. I then started getting pain in my neck. I have an ENT referral for next Wednesday. I went to the dentist today and she found a thickening of the tongue near the back of my mouth on the side that the ear pain is on. She has made a referral for a biopsy to be done and says they should be in contact with me within two weeks.

To say I'm scared is an understatement and the fact that I'm trying to support and care for my mother is who dying from oesophageal cancer makes it all the more difficult.

Potentially my son could lose both his nana and his mother from cancer and that breaks my heart. I have cried and cried. I have tried reasoning with myself that it might not be cancer and that I'm getting carried away with myself but I just cant see this having a happy ending. I don't even know if i could cope if i ended up having cancer as well. 

I guess I'm writing this because I feel so alone and helpless to stop what is happening and hoping that someone says hi your not alone.

Lots of love and light to anyone going through this nightmare that is cancer

  • Hi there, so sorry to hear about your mum. It’s a really tough time going through what your going through. I to am a mother of 2 and lost my mum almost 19 years ago now. I was 28 at the time and I won’t lie to you it can be really tough. I found talking about it helped a lot but most of all time is a great healer. 

    I to have recently been referred to ent, I have a hard lump in my neck and I’m really stressing on and off at the moment.

    i hope things go well for you and try not to feel alone. .

    goodluck at your appointment jaqui

  • Hi Jaqui,

    I understand the stress you must be going through. Last night I also discovered I have some pretty hard lumps at the front of my neck right in the centre . As startling as this discovery is I have to try and keep a level head until my appointment with ENT next week otherwise I'm not going to cope. 

    Hopefully as you only have the one lump if it is cancer it will be easier to treat. Do you have an appointment already booked for ENT?