Hi everyone, I'm new here... I'm 27 years old and drink and smoke occasionally. I have been researching for the past few hours oral and throat cancers, as I have symptoms of them. I have red patches in the roof of my mouth with white spots, and they come and go and move around sometimes onto my gums, sometimes they are on my tonsils. I have a big 'nodule' looking thing in my throat right next to my tonsil as well that is reddish with white.
I am going to get an ENT to test for cancer. My question is, I see people saying everywhere it's all about early detection.. What exactly is early detection? Is it within a year of symptoms? I got these symptoms last May. I got a fever of 105 and was hospitalized and they said I had strep throat. After a few weeks the fever came back and i had a white blood count of 35, and they said it was strep again. After a few weeks it came back mildly and since then i haven't gotten the fever at all but occasionally (after drinking or smoking especially) get the sores i described above inside my mouth. Only earlier today did I use a flashlight in my mouth to really see the sore spots and the nodule thing in my throat, and i was alarmed by how similar they were to pictures of oral cancer.
If diagnosed now, a year later, is this considered early detection? Are there any other disorders that you guys are aware of that have these same symptoms?
Thank you so much in advance for your help...