BILLINGS — Going to the doctor is not always an easy decision, but shrugging off something as small as a canker sore can end up having big implications.
For Dave Middleton, 58, a trip to the doctor came eight months after a small sore behind his tongue wouldn't go away.
"I just began to feel more pain and the pain became more into my nerves and to the side of my face and so I was kind of getting concerned," Middleton said.
Concern for his health, but lingering behind that too was concern with telling his girlfriend,Theresa DeVries.
DeVries and Middleton met as family friends in Shepherd, but their romance bloomed three years ago.
“We just kind of reconnected later in life," Middleton says. "We're best friends."
While the couple shares their lives, pets, and sense of humor, Middleton didn't share with DeVries what was initially going on with his health until a doctor at Billings Clinic told Middleton the sore would need a biopsy.
Middleton remembers the conversation well.
“I said, I got something to tell you. And as we always do, we joke around, we have fun. She goes, oh, what do you got? I said, I went to the doctor today, Theresa. And they took a biopsy of my tongue. She didn't get mad, she didn't do anything. She said, can I see? I said, yeah. So she looked at it and she goes, oh my goodness. The size of it was pretty good size," Middleton said.
The biopsy turned into a diagnosis of mouth cancer, a shock for Middletone who had never used tobacco products, but a cancer with which DeVries was unfortunately familiar.
"Hearing of hearing cancer, the same cancer of my dad had, was really shocking," DeVries said.
To treat the cancer, Middleton underwent surgery at Billings Clinic, where he had 13 lymph nodes removed, one of which tested positive for cancer, setting Middleton up for radiation, one of the hardest things he's ever been through.
"We're in here for six weeks, five days a week. That's a long time to do radiation. And to have somebody sacrifice every day to be there with you. That's huge. That's huge. You can't do it alone. You can't," Middleton said.
Persisting through pain, Middleton finished his radiation just three weeks ago.
"You wouldn't believe how exceptional this cancer center is at this clinic," Middleton said. "Billings Cllinic, this place, this cancer center by far treated me with five-star, white-glove service. They took care of us, not just me, her," Middleton said.
The doctors who treated him along the way are happy to see his progress.
“It makes me very excited to see my patient smile because I know I was staring at the nerve to the lip that makes him smile and it's still perfect," said Dr. Maria Buniel, an otolaryngologist at Billings Clinic, who first examined Middleton's mouth and performed the surgery removing the cancerous areas.
Middleton's radiation oncologist, Dr. Chris Goulet, shares the same relief.
"We have an incredible team to be able to assist people, but the primary person in that has a huge role in how they're able to make it through," said Goulet. "If they're willing to accept that help and willing to work on their own, the outcomes tend to be a lot better as well."
It also helps when that primary person has their own primary person.
"He's here and he's going to be healed in probably, hopefully a month or so and we can get on with our life," said DeVries.
"But I don't think, we really haven't gotten on with our life. We've done exactly what we've done since day one. We enjoy our animals, have our faith, we have fun and truly it's been an amazing experience here," DeVries said.
Looking at cancer as a small blip in the rest of their lives.
"I think we've changed, it's changed our lives," Middleton said.
