Treatment of Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Tongue

How One Man Beat Cancer

When my husband was diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue, we were stunned. That little white bump on Jim’s tongue had been there for months. It didn’t hurt or feel any different from the rest of his tongue, it was just there. How could something like that be cancer?  But when the doctor said “cancer” it seemed like the end of the world for us.  This is the story of Jim’s treatment for squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue.

The tumor was discovered by the dentist when Jim went to have his teeth cleaned. The dentist wouldn’t do anything that day.  He advised my husband to go to an oral surgeon immediately. Jim did as he was told, and soon was ushered in to the examination room of the Oral Surgeon (OS).

The  OS did a biopsy of the tumor. In other words, he cut off a section of Jim’s tongue to look at more closely under a microscope. The OS determined the size of the tumor, whether or not it was well differentiated, and whether the mass was malignant or non-malignant. A few days later, we received the results of the biopsy in the OS office.  We were told that it was a well-differentiated malignant tumor four centimeters in diameter. We also learned that it was in the first stages of development.  The OS referred us to an oncologist for further treatment.

Walking into the oncologist’s waiting room was a frightening experience for us.  However, the oncologist did everything she could to set us at ease. She explained what the different aspects of Jim’s tumor meant, and what treatment options we had available to us. She recommended surgery to remove the tumor, followed by radiation treatments to the mouth and throat. She spent a lot of time with us answering all of our questions, and even gave us her home phone number in case we had questions later.