UPDATED: So, I found a lump...

[Just Kate]

I was driving home from a work appointment on Tuesday (3 hours away from home), after an already cruddy day, when I reached on to scratch the side of my neck and there was a big lump. I kept driving, but then finally pulled over to get gas and started googling. Of course I read all of the lovely things that can cause a lump...with the worst being cancer. 

I got in to see a doctor yesterday (not my doctor, but one in the same practice) and thankfully he took me very seriously. Asked about any other symptoms (none at all) and measured the lump (1.5 cm). He put me on a round of antibiotics, in case there is some infection causing this, and is ordering me a CT scan. He also ordered blood work, which I had done yesterday and learned today that everything is in normal range. The doc told me not to worry but he was definitely taking my concerns seriously  he said that he felt that the lump is a swollen lymph node and that he will be aggressive in finding out what has caused it  

So today, I’m waiting to get my CT scan scheduled and trying to stay off of google. Any words of hope you can offer??? I’m trying not to freak out, but I’ve convinced myself that this is bad  

Update on page 2  

 

 

[Lang Syne Boardie]

Your doctor is doing everything right! If he thinks it's a swollen lymph node, just lean into that for now, because he is also following up. He probably wouldn't say that if he didn't really and truly think so. (((Kate)))

[Just Kate]

3 minutes ago, Tibbie Dunbar said:

Your doctor is doing everything right! If he thinks it's a swollen lymph node, just lean into that for now, because he is also following up. He probably wouldn't say that if he didn't really and truly think so. (((Kate)))

Thank you. But a swollen lymph node can be due to cancer. So that is stressing me out. Big time. 

[Scarlett]

So sorry. Just glad you found it!

[Garga]

I had lump on the side of my neck like that. For me, it was a swollen lymph node due to a mosquito bite near the node.  (I get gigantic bites.)

Of course, you feel fear and anectodes like mine don’t really help, I know.  You’re going to worry until you know for sure that your lump is not something life threatening. 

Try to hold on to the fact that there can be myriad reasons for a swollen lymph node.  It’s normal to jump to the worst case, but most likely it is not the worst case.  I’m glad your doctor is taking it seriously so that you don’t have to keep being afraid.

[Just Kate]

4 minutes ago, Garga said:

I had lump on the side of my neck like that. For me, it was a swollen lymph node due to a mosquito bite near the node.  (I get gigantic bites.)

Of course, you feel fear and anectodes like mine don’t really help, I know.  You’re going to worry until you know for sure that your lump is not something life threatening. 

Try to hold on to the fact that there can be myriad reasons for a swollen lymph node.  It’s normal to jump to the worst case, but most likely it is not the worst case.  I’m glad your doctor is taking it seriously so that you don’t have to keep being afraid.

No...this is actually good. I keep googling to try to find something other than cancer that could cause a swollen lymph node. For instance, I know strep, mono, respiratory illnesses, etc. can cause a swollen lymph node. But I haven’t had anything like that recently. It helps me to know that yours was caused by something else...gives me hope. Thank you. 

[Just Kate]

2 minutes ago, Patty Joanna said:

I had a whacking big lump on my neck.  Went to doctor.  “That’s cancer.  That will have to come off.  How’s Tuesday?” 

THIS is why I love my MD.   Here’s the diagnosis, and here’s what we are going to do.  I went in “Tuesday”.  The lump had disappeared.  

These things happen.  I don’t fault the doc—I was glad he was ready to act and he didn’t have a supersoftspokenbedsidemanner.  I have WAY too active an imagination for THAT.  But my point is—you never know.  

Its a dance—expect the best, gear up for the worst— and is an impossible place to live in for long.  

So your lymph node just disappeared on it’s own? Did you ever determine what caused it?

[Liz CA]

If it came on quickly, it could really be due to some infection you have not felt yet.

[foxbridgeacademy]

I've known tons of people who have had lumps (usually swollen lymph nodes). Between my 2 sister, DD, and I we've had them dozens of times our lifetime.  Out of all these only twice has it turned out to be something more than infection.  Both those times it was a slow growing lump that my mom had taken care of right away (yes cancer but she's been in remission 14+ years) and my step mother, who did not go to the doctor until it was to late. 

For DD she get's the sniffles or a tick bite and her lymph nodes swell up. Me it doesn't even require that, allergies, like a high pollen count and the lymph node under my arm gets huge.  I treat with super hot shower spray directed at the lymph node for as long as I can stand.  My sister uses dried beans in a sock heated in the microwave. 

[J-rap]

My dh and one of my dd's get giant swollen lymph nodes from the littlest things.  It could be from a cold that happened months ago, or a random bug bite, and they'll still have the swollen node for 6 months.  I freaked out the first time this happened with my dd, and then my dh casually told me the same thing happens with him from time to time.  (I brought her to the doctor anyway the first time this happened, and she was fine, and it did finally go away!)

[gardenmom5]

dh's niece had a swollen nymph node on the side-back of her neck.  they did have to surgically remove it because it refused to shrink. it wasn't serious -just obnoxious.

[gardenmom5]

11 minutes ago, Patty Joanna said:

One other thing:  my sister had lumps under her arms and went to three doctors who prescribed 35,000 tests she could not afford.  She was beside herself.  She went to my doctor who told her "swollen sweat glands.  Do this..."  And she was FINE in 3 days.  She was so miffed; she had spent $500 to get a diagnosis.  She asked my doctor why this had happened.  He said that MDs have been completely cowed by litigiousness and they are afraid to make a diagnosis without 35,000 tests to confirm what they already know to be the diagnosis.  

Hence, high cost of medical care.
Hence, low confidence in diagnosis.  

I love my MD.  I wish he were 10 years younger than I instead of 8 years older.  I will miss him in his retirement, but I will carry his medical ethos with me.  

 

 

my ob/gyn who delivered my two youngest - had to move to another state becasue he could no longer afford his malpractice insurance.  he had NEVER been sued.  

[sassenach]

6 minutes ago, gardenmom5 said:

 

my ob/gyn who delivered my two youngest - had to move to another state becasue he could no longer afford his malpractice insurance.  he had NEVER been sued.  

The ob I had for my last birth had a sign posted and a form to sign that stated that due to the high cost of malpractice insurance, she stopped carrying it. It wasn’t a release of liability, IIRC. Just an acknowledgement that you’d be suing her limited resources rather than the insurance policy. I thought that took balls. 

[The Governess]

I have a somewhat enlarged lymph node on the side of my neck.  It's from 7 years ago when my kids brought home 5ths disease (it's called human parvo virus if you get it as an adult). It made my lymph nodes swell up so bad that my Dr. had me tested for rubella. All the other lymph nodes eventually returned to normal except this one that only kind of returned to normal.  So, another possibility is that it's from a virus you had a while ago and you just never noticed it.

[LMD]

I had a big lump on my neck once, went to my gp quite freaked out, turned out to be from an infected pimple!

Glad you went to get it checked, hope you get good news soon.

[Pawz4me]

When I was a teenager I had a lump on the side of my neck/under my ear for several years. It eventually went away. I assumed it was a lymph node. No idea what caused it. 

[Guest]

This happened to me and it was a swollen lymph node that was (doctor speculated) probably due to a bug or tick bite in my head just north of the node. So I’m going to root for localized infection response. 

((Hugs)) It freaked me right out and I “knew” it would be cancer. But I was wrong. 

[freesia]

We regularly have someone with a lump of some kind here. One ds gets them at the drop of a hat whenever he is fighting off anything. In fact we now use it as the sign for him to take elderberry syrup and rest. He often had no other sign of being sick for a couple of days.  So ime it is far more likely to be a virus--even a very mild one. 

Please stop googling. 

[Just Kate]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I am feeling much more hopeful. I have never had a swollen lymph node before (especially nothing like this) so it has definitely been alarming. 

A couple more things...the knot is very tender - it actually hurts when I turn my head. Also, I  now have a small bump on the top of my head which hurts (dh looked at it and says it just looks red) and there is a tender spot on the  back of my head neck (kind of at my hair line). There is no knot there though. So I continue to be anxious. 

I will just keep taking my antibiotic and follow up with my doctor to get my ct scan scheduled. 

 

[Selkie]

When I was a teenager, I got a tick bite on my scalp and it made a lymph node in my neck swell up. It never shrank back down to normal size, and I can still feel it thirty years later.

[Penguin]

As a breast cancer survivor, any and all new lumps get rapid attention. I had a sudden swollen lymphnode biopsied near my collarbone. Our best guess (meaning me and the docs) is that it “popped” due to strain from plank exercise. I was doing a 30 day plank challenge at the time. I am now scared to do plank after what it put me through, but it was NOT cancer.

[mumto2]

I had a large swollen lump near the top of my head that appeared about a month before I became pregnant with Ds.  It drove me nuts and I finally convinced a Dr. to remove my swollen lymph node although there was huge agreement there was no need.  I had even gotten the pediatrician to weigh in. ;). Well, the removal was scheduled and I found out I was pregnant so I canceled the procedure.  The lump finally disappeared pretty close to when Ds was born.

Btw,  The lump was most likely caused by my getting my hair caught and pulling out a really painful huge chunk,  home alone with Dd and getting untangled had to happen right then. The hair loss was back of the neck and the lymph node was right side near top.  It was painful especially because when  I checked it frequently.

[Katy]

I had a lump like that once.  My dentist found it.  It ended up being the first sign of mumps, which I got 4-5 days afterwards.  Later my salivary glands, cheek, and whole jaw were swollen.

I found instructions online to make a paste of powdered ginger and water, smear it over the swollen places, cover up with a hot wet washcloth and a dry towel, like a compress.  Set a timer for 20 minutes.  I felt a strange drawing sensation, and in 20 minutes the swelling reduced by 60% and the pain was gone.  I repeated twice over the next day and then it was completely gone.  I've since done the same thing for random kid pains and even on a child's sternum for costochondritis and it's worked every time.  If I were you I'd try it- if the lymph node is swollen due to infection it should help.  If it's some other reason it won't make a difference.

[gardenmom5]

7 hours ago, sassenach said:

The ob I had for my last birth had a sign posted and a form to sign that stated that due to the high cost of malpractice insurance, she stopped carrying it. It wasn’t a release of liability, IIRC. Just an acknowledgement that you’d be suing her limited resources rather than the insurance policy. I thought that took balls. 

 

I have heard of some locally that require patients to sign an acknowledgment that there are no guarantees of perfect outcomes.   which is really where the litigiousness comes from.

My sil asked her ob if he'd ever been sued . . . once.  the baby was born with a handicap (something that could not have been prevented by anything he did or didn't do.) - and the parents sued as basically, they were looking for money to pay medical bills.

[SquirrellyMama]

6 hours ago, Just Kate said:

Thanks for the replies everyone. I am feeling much more hopeful. I have never had a swollen lymph node before (especially nothing like this) so it has definitely been alarming. 

A couple more things...the knot is very tender - it actually hurts when I turn my head. Also, I  now have a small bump on the top of my head which hurts (dh looked at it and says it just looks red) and there is a tender spot on the  back of my head neck (kind of at my hair line). There is no knot there though. So I continue to be anxious. 

I will just keep taking my antibiotic and follow up with my doctor to get my ct scan scheduled. 

 

When I got shingles I had a swollen lymph node on my neck, then a bump on my head, then bumps from my eye all the way back. Are they all on the same side?

Kelly

[Just Kate]

47 minutes ago, SquirrellyMama said:

When I got shingles I had a swollen lymph node on my neck, then a bump on my head, then bumps from my eye all the way back. Are they all on the same side?

Kelly

Yes...they are all on the right side of my head/neck. 

[gardenmom5]

1 hour ago, Patty Joanna said:

We may have had the same ob/gyn.  Did yours move to Idaho?  Mine did.  He was a GEM.  Such a loss. 

yes. 

his youngest was at the same school as 2ds when I was pg. with dudeling.  I even did pta back and forth with his wife. think dudeling was born on (one of) his son's birthday.

I was sorry to see him go - he is really good.   a fine man too.

[sassenach]

4 hours ago, gardenmom5 said:

 

I have heard of some locally that require patients to sign an acknowledgment that there are no guarantees of perfect outcomes.   which is really where the litigiousness comes from.

My sil asked her ob if he'd ever been sued . . . once.  the baby was born with a handicap (something that could not have been prevented by anything he did or didn't do.) - and the parents sued as basically, they were looking for money to pay medical bills.

 

The situation with my son was such that there was 1 doctor very much responsible (the perinatologist) and another doctor (my regular OB) who was not at all responsible for his poor outcome. We investigated suing and the law firm basically said it was an all or nothing deal. We either had to sue both or neither. We decided not to pursue it. I couldn't stand the thought of suing a doctor who had taken such good care of me.

[gardenmom5]

13 minutes ago, sassenach said:

The situation with my son was such that there was 1 doctor very much responsible (the perinatologist) and another doctor (my regular OB) who was not at all responsible for his poor outcome. We investigated suing and the law firm basically said it was an all or nothing deal. We either had to sue both or neither. We decided not to pursue it. I couldn't stand the thought of suing a doctor who had taken such good care of me.

my friend didn't sue.  if she'd had a c-section -everything would have been fine -  they were both head down, which is generally fine.

except ...the second baby's umbilical cord was around the first baby's arm.  the baby was born dead, but revived by the peri; with severe brain damage.  

she had a lot of people push her to sue the peri - which she didn't.  she also had people constantly making suggestions of how to help him.  their suggestions were usually things that would have made things worse.

[Butter]

One Sunday during church my husband was rubbing my youngest son's head and neck and discovered a huge lump.  Freaked us out.  Called the doctor the next morning and they got us right in.  The doctor was pretty sure it was just a swollen lymph node (actually three - there were two smaller lumps right near the big one) and prescribed antibiotics and told us to come back if the lump wasn't down in a week.  He said his son got a swollen lymph node around the same age and they never did figure out why.  He had to have surgery to remove it because after a year it was still the same.  It was benign and just a weird thing that sometimes happens.  In my son's case, the next day he spiked a temperature and we were under orders to always get his throat swabbed if he had an unexplained temperature and, sure enough, he had strep (he never complained of a sore throat ever so that's why spiking a temperature was always our clue to see if he had strep yet again).  Of course, he was already on antibiotics so he just finished that course and by the end of it, the lumps were completely gone.  Hopefully, your lump is a similar oddity and you were fighting/coming down with something, too.

[school17777]

4 hours ago, Just Kate said:

Yes...they are all on the right side of my head/neck. 

 

That sounds like shingles to me.  You want that diagnosed ASAP because there’s a small window of time to get a prescription to stop it.

 

eta:  I would call the dr on call and say you think you have shingles and ask what to do to get the antiviral prescription.

[goldberry]

I had a swollen lymph node in my neck turn out to be cat scratch disease.  Took two rounds of antibiotics to get rid of it. My friend had one that turned out to be an abcess or something similar on her tonsil (she didn't have a sore throat really).  Something scratched her throat on the way down?  

So yes, quite a few weird possible alternatives out here.

[gardenmom5]

21 minutes ago, Arctic Mama said:

That’s the same condition Benny has.  They used to call it anoxia/hypoxia, but the name changed to Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy to describe the brain damage resulting from the oxygen loss.  Now I’m wondering if I know your friend.  I have met many mamas online from the PNW in our group.

 

A c section didn’t prevent mine, but it varies by each birth.  We didn’t sue anyone because nobody was negligent - even in our HIE group maybe 20% of those cases are due to genuine malpractice or mistakes in care, and those lawsuits are such a nightmare for the families.  Sometimes it HAS to be done both for a special needs trust as well as to cause criminal penalties if no actions were taken against the license.  On the one hand I hate that we are one of the big groups driving up those insurance costs for the good doctors, but on the other hand the group is exactly why it exists.  When there is catastrophic negligent issues or even just a series of lapses of best practices and monitoring leading to fetal and maternal injury or demise, to court it should go.

 

Excuse me while I pack away my soapbox and hugs to every mama like your friend who has had to deal with this. 

she's hasn't lived in the PNW since she got married.  her son would be in his 30's now.  He has been institutionalized since he turned 21 so they can get state/federal aid.  before that he was at home.  she wishes someone had told her brain damaged babies scream. sometimes for hours - but it developed his lungs.  they have him home as often as circumstances permit.  he has the developmental level of an infant.  he is blind, and is fed with a tube.  he has a sweet spirit and he always gets excited when she is in the room with him.  his health is failing and she doesn't expect him to live much longer.   he's outlived all the other "children" in the special needs day programs he was in growing up.

her's was something that developed during labor as the first baby was being born.   and that's why he was born dead. no heartbeat either.

[lavender's green]

Hopefully it turns out to be nothing!

A few years ago I got a lump on my jaw in front of my ear. I googled it and FREAKED OUT. I didn't even have a GP at the time since I was in the midst of having babies and could usually see my midwives for routine care, but their nearest appointment since I wasn't pregnant then, was more than a month out; and most GPs I found who were accepting new patients didn't have openings for weeks or months. Stressful time. I finally found a great nurse practitioner a little bit out of town who could see me quickly. Turned out I had tonsillitis but for whatever reason wasn't really feeling it in my throat. She told me that she herself has a permanently-swollen yet totally benign node on her neck. Ever since then, especially as my kids grow up and get out in the community and swap germs with other kids, I notice that that node, and others in my neck, swell up whenever I get the tiniest little case of sniffles. Feeling them swell is almost always more painful than the illness itself (except when we had the flu...blegh....). At some point my body just changed how it responds to illness.

Of course, your situation may be totally different. But a lump doesn't always mean cancer. Hugs.

[gardenmom5]

21 minutes ago, Arctic Mama said:

Group homes and institutions are pretty common in my local special needs group with the adult children, sometimes it makes the most sense from a cost and time perspective but I know both solutions are extremely difficult.  I will pray for her son as he is having health struggles, that is impossibly hard whether they’re 30 days or 30 years.  He sounds like an amazing man.

 

They did tell us about neuro-irritability, but thankfully my little guy outgrew it by about six months old.  It was bruuuutal.  I hear you about the labor developments.  Complete or intermittent cord compression, abruption, dystocia, and partial or full uterine ruptures are among the most common causes.  In utero occurrences like clots in the placenta (that was us) and strokes are less common.  And yeah. The resuscitation is the probably among the most traumatic memories of my life.  I want to say we had twelve minutes between them calling the code and him initiating breathing motions with (dodgy) success, but I’ve honestly been too chicken to look back on our records and verify.  On our HIE group there are kids with what look to be fairly mild injuries and severe long term effects and there are babies with >30 minutes of resuscitation efforts who are living essentially neurotypical lives.

 

 Even among the emergent HIE cases, negligence isn’t a majority factor. But some of the stories would make your blood curdle.  There’s more than a few mamas I’m cheering for while they sue the pants off various doctors and hospital systems, because some of these folks belong behind bars (to put it mildly).  In my case I had great care it the issue wasn’t detectable with the standard of care my symptoms and risk level indicated, but sometimes awful things happen and it’s nobody’s fault :(

 

Sorry for crapping all over your thread with my PTSD, OP.  Gardenmom, please let your friend know she has me and a bunch of special needs moms in the Midwest praying for her and her son.

her biggest fear used to be he would outlive her - she isn't concerned about that anymore.  her's was just something that happened.  and yeah - sometimes lousy things happen.

My sister's daughter tied her umbilical cords up in two knots.  that was something that happened.  her dr did listen to her as she kept insisting something was wrong because she wasn't moving.  "but there's a heart beat" . . . after many tests - they sent her to the major medical school with a level 4 nicu where they did a c-section. (that's when they found the knots) she was 30 weeks (in 1982) and was small for gestational dates. . . . after a few scary days - she was scooting around in her incubator and rubbed her feet raw.   then it was just waiting for her to get big enough to go home.

I will.   It helped me one day when we were talking about dudeling.  (before he was diagnosed).  she'd spent a week helping a friend with an adhd son.  she said her's was much easier and she couldn't do the adhd/asd thing.

I do have a friend who as her father lay dying - told her mom to sue the hospital.  he'd been having a heart attack - and they sent him home without treating him.   by the time they started treatment - it was too late.

[Ausmumof3]

I had one at i end point and doc just said it was viral and it went away

by itself.

[Just Kate]

1 hour ago, Ausmumof3 said:

I had one at i end point and doc just said it was viral and it went away

by itself.

How long did it take to go away? Was it painful at all (tender)?

[Forget-Me-Not]

FWIW I was told by a doctor that tender lumps usually aren’t cancerous. The tenderness means your immune system is paying attention. Whatever it is I hope it’s short lived and resolves soon! 

[Just Kate]

5 hours ago, Forget-Me-Not said:

FWIW I was told by a doctor that tender lumps usually aren’t cancerous. The tenderness means your immune system is paying attention. Whatever it is I hope it’s short lived and resolves soon! 

 

Thank you so much! The pain on the back of my head is getting worse...I just wish it would go away. But I’m not sick. Just praying that my body is fighting something off. 

[Ausmumof3]

11 hours ago, Just Kate said:

How long did it take to go away? Was it painful at all (tender)?

Yes it was tender.  It took a little over a week I think.  He actually said he'd seen a couple of patients with similar so maybe it was some odd variation on whatever was going around at the time.

[foxbridgeacademy]

My mom had to have a lymph node removed, it was skin cancer that had spread to her lymphatic system.  She said that, at least in her case, it wasn't painful or tender just hard. Luckily it was only in the one lymph node, they took out 28 of them to test. 

Same for my dad's late wife. Not overly painful but she didn't see a doctor until it had spread to other organs. 

Where as my lymph nodes freaking ache when I get an infection. 

[Laurie4b]

In your shoes, I would not want a CT scan unless time did not bring down the swelling. Having a single swollen lymph gland is common and usually from benign causes. 

I would want to know why your doctor thinks a CT scan is necessary at this point. A CT scan is  very useful if there is good reason to have one but is not entirely benign. It has a significant amount of radiation and sometimes it "finds" something that then requires additional follow-up that turns out to be nothing. "Overtreatment" has risks of its own. So given that your only symptom is a common one with many benign causes, I would wait a couple weeks and have the CT scan only if it remains the same or gets larger. 

[Just Kate]

UPDATE: I had a CT Scan yesterday and then saw my doctor today to get the results. Unfortunately they aren’t good. The scan showed a cluster of swollen lymph nodes at my neck. Also, they scanned just the top of my chest and they saw swollen lymph nodes there as well. The doctor has ordered another CT Scan (actually he’s like to do a PET scan, but have to see if my insurance will approve it) and he scheduled me to see an ENT on Monday. He said it is likely that the ENT will remove the lymph node in my neck to test. 

So I’m beside myself. My dh works out of town (he is home now) and we haven’t said a word to our kids yet (ages 10 and 14). Dd has a dance recital this weekend and is really like to get through that first. But dh has to leave for work on Saturday evening, so time is short. 

I just can’t believe this is happening. If anyone has any super positive experiences to share, it would be great. I would also greatly appreciate prayers, as I’m feeling pretty scared right now. 

[Jaybee]

I miss our group hug emojis. ? I will pray for you right now.

[ktgrok]

Hugs and prayers that you are fighting off an illness or something along those lines, and nothing more than that. 

[Soror]

(hugs)

[Vintage81]

I have no experience to share, but sending many hugs your way. Praying too. 

[ktgrok]

Also, there are LOTS of things that can cause lymph node swelling. Has the doctor done any lab work? https://patient.info/doctor/generalised-lymphadenopathy

[Just Kate]

4 minutes ago, Ktgrok said:

Also, there are LOTS of things that can cause lymph node swelling. Has the doctor done any lab work? https://patient.info/doctor/generalised-lymphadenopathy

 

Yes, my blood work was all normal. I think the cluster in my neck and then the enlarged nodes in my chest are worriesome. Also I have a week of antibiotics to see if that made any changes and it didn’t. I do keep praying for some other alternative. 

[PinkTulip]

2 minutes ago, Just Kate said:

I do keep praying for some other alternative. 

I’ll keep praying for some other alternative, too. Hugs!