Hi

I was diagnosed with T1N0 SCC on the side of my tongue in Jan 2009 (HPV16 negative). I had tongue surgery with neck dissection on Feb 2009 - everything went well. I did not go through radiation or chemo as the size of the cancer did not warrant further treatment, also no spread was detected during surgery; lymph negative on cancer.

However, only 2 weeks after surgery, I started to get a small round bump on the surgery site (side of the tongue near where the original cancer was) - strange thing is that it comes and goes; appears for few days, then completely disappears... then after few weeks, appears again, then disappears... and so on. I showed my doctors several times but they don't seem too concerned at this point.

Is it normal to get bumps on the surgery site? I'm really paranoid that my cancer is back???

Thank you.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: davidrk7,

Hi David

Welcome, Welcome! I'm glad that, so far, everything is going well for you. The folks on this site are really informative and willing to help.

It most likely isn't cancer, but has your doctor done a follow-up biopsy just to make sure that it's not a recurrence? Everyone, unfortunately, has a different response to treatments, so there's no such thing as "normal." Dr Joshi might be able to tell you what's typical, though.

I'm nearly four and a half years post-op. I had T2N0M0, and the only treatment I had was surgery: hemiglossectomy and resection. The best news my family and I got was the pathologist's report that said RT and chemo were "not indicated." (It was also kind of neat to see the look of surprise on my doctor's face when he read that to us.) What kind of surgery did you have?

Sorry I couldn't answer your question any better than that, but please know that you're not alone in this.

Julia (and Flappy)

Hello David

A recurrence will not appear as a swelling that disappears like you described. The surgery could have damaged some salivary gland or lymph drainage that swells up before it discharges. Let me know what your surgeon thinks.

Best wishes

Vinod

Thank you Dr. Joshi and Julia for your prompt response. I'll continue to check with my doctors. I'm really glad to have found this forum!