Near the beginning of 2022, I discovered an ulcer on my tongue. One of those things you don’t think very much about—a little painful and irritating, that’s all. I saw a GP when it didn’t go away after a few weeks and he gave me ulcer medication. When that failed to work, I visited my dentist. I had my own theory as to why I had a recurring ulcer—one of my teeth must have gone out of place and it was now scratching my tongue, leading to an abrasion. It was on my second visit to the dentist, after he had already filed my tooth down, that he told me quite seriously to see an oral surgeon.
I got a biopsy done immediately. The diagnosis came a week later: tongue cancer. Tongue cancer isn’t a common cancer. I understand there is a specific demographic that tends to get it—men over 45 who smoke. I don’t fall into that category. But there’s no point in agonising over ‘why’ when it
