So I was just living my life with the good days, bad days and in between days. The best days started with pickleball and friends.
At some point I wondered when I had bitten the inside of my cheek and why it wasn’t healing. After a month or so I went to my GP and asked him about it, but he wasn’t concerned and said it would heal within a few weeks. I didn’t agree, but didn’t push it. (Note – I should have …. read this.)
After another month I went to my dentist because the sore still hadn’t healed. She very quickly identified that it should be checked out and made me an appointment with an oral surgeon for a biopsy.
He spent less than 5 minutes looking at it and said, “I think you have squamous cell carcinoma and I’d like to call someone who deals with this and ask him to see you this morning.” An hour later I was meeting Dr. Russell Murphy who has become one of the most important people in my life. He is a very skilled and knowledgeable surgeon, but equally important, he is a great communicator and cared about “me”, not just my cancer.
It didn’t take long for him to confirm that I had buccal mucosa squamous cell carcinoma, or cancer of the inner cheek. Who knew you could get cancer in the inner cheek? I didn’t. Nor am I the typical patient. This type of cancer is more prevalent in older people who are heavy smokers or drinkers, or who chew betel nuts (a fruit grown in Asia and Africa that people grind, wrap is a leaf and chew), or in younger people who have HPV.