I went to my gp on monday with what i thought was a pesistant saw throat but ive also had patch on my tongue for a while which i thought was down to smoking. it started as a sore patch (worse after a curry) and is now kind of brown/black. She called in another gp during the consultation and they both agreed to refer me to the oral surgeons. Today (wed) the hospital phoned at 8am and asked me to go on friday. i'm worried sick, do things always happen as quick as this? I've been up most of the night scouring the internet and i've self diagnosed with 'hairy tongue' ( i prefer to look on the bright side...lol?)and a pesistant sore throat. any advice i'm sending myself insane with worry. i really do think my throat is just plain sore as my ears are kind of itchy too and it just feels like a virus.

Ali,

Statistically it's less likely to be cancer of the mouth, because you are female. Don't worry too much about the hospital phone call, when you're worried you can read all sorts of things into an innocent phone call. I had a scan for a lump in my neck, one year after having been treated for cancer of the tonsil, and I recieved a phone call to change my appointment time. I convinced myself it was because they had checked the results of my scan, and wanted me in early so that they could do a biopsy. I was totally wrong, they just changed the time to suit their staffing requirements, and my scan was completely clear. So don't worry yourself unnecessarily.

On the positive side, if it is cancer, then by getting it looked at as quickly as possible you will have increased your chances of successful treatment.