need help please

nico
nico Member Posts: 5
edited March 2014 in Head and Neck Cancer #1
hi everyone:
I have to come here to see if anyone else have had the same frustration. I noticed a lump in my neck, under the jaw, although not too obevious but it's enought to freak me out. I have tried to contact several cancer society offices, lab and specialist offices to arrange an appointment to have a check up, but I was either put into a voice mail or they never call me back after they promised they would. I am start to wondering if our health care professionals are really as caring as what they seem like on TV commercial. Could anyone tell me where can I get a reliable health care team in Boston MA area? I will very much appreciate!!!
Sincerely and helplessly, Nico

Comments

  • br00ksie
    br00ksie Member Posts: 4
    #2
    Nico:
    You're lucky in that you are near one of the best cancer centers in the country. Dana-Farber Cancer Institute is located at 44 Binney Street in Boston and the Head & Neck Clinic can be reached at 617-632-3090. I know, I travelled up there from New Jersey. I think you'll do well to give them a call.
  • nico
    nico Member Posts: 5
    #3
    br00ksie said:

    Nico:
    You're lucky in that you are near one of the best cancer centers in the country. Dana-Farber Cancer Institute is located at 44 Binney Street in Boston and the Head & Neck Clinic can be reached at 617-632-3090. I know, I travelled up there from New Jersey. I think you'll do well to give them a call.

    Dear brooksie:
    Thank you so much for the help!! I am still scared about what might be wrong in my neck, but you make me feel much better. The support from a stranger is always so touching. Thanks again! Hope you are doing well too.
  • b4gving
    b4gving Member Posts: 2
    #4
    Nico, I don't know anything about your area, but I just went through this very same thing with my mother. Call an Ear,Nose& Throat physician. At least that's a start. By the way, her's ended up being benign! Keep up the hope!!
  • br00ksie
    br00ksie Member Posts: 4
    #5
    nico said:

    Dear brooksie:
    Thank you so much for the help!! I am still scared about what might be wrong in my neck, but you make me feel much better. The support from a stranger is always so touching. Thanks again! Hope you are doing well too.

    Nico:

    I am doing well thanks mostly to the talent in Boston. I completed my treatment two years ago for oral cancer and things are going well. I agree with b4giving that you needn't jump to the conclusion that have cancer. Take it a step at a time and get the best people to advise you.

    All the best,
    Br00ksie
  • jackie7964
    jackie7964 Member Posts: 16
    #6
    br00ksie said:

    Nico:

    I am doing well thanks mostly to the talent in Boston. I completed my treatment two years ago for oral cancer and things are going well. I agree with b4giving that you needn't jump to the conclusion that have cancer. Take it a step at a time and get the best people to advise you.

    All the best,
    Br00ksie

    I agree that you shouldn't automatically assume you have cancer, but it is critical that you remain assertive and when you find a doctor, insist that they take you seriously. Believe me, they sometimes don't. You have to be your own advocate. Sometimes it makes a difference if you bring someone along with you to the doctor's office. Do you have someone who would be willing to go along?
  • nico
    nico Member Posts: 5
    #7
    jackie7964 said:

    I agree that you shouldn't automatically assume you have cancer, but it is critical that you remain assertive and when you find a doctor, insist that they take you seriously. Believe me, they sometimes don't. You have to be your own advocate. Sometimes it makes a difference if you bring someone along with you to the doctor's office. Do you have someone who would be willing to go along?

    hi jackie:
    Thanks for the advice! I can find someone to go with me. My attitute to cancer is to always think the worse, so I can be prepare. But however I am prepared, I am sure I will still be shocked if the diagnosis confirmed.
    I am so nervous now, and I start to appreciate the time when there is no worries in life...
  • nico
    nico Member Posts: 5
    #8
    b4gving said:

    Nico, I don't know anything about your area, but I just went through this very same thing with my mother. Call an Ear,Nose& Throat physician. At least that's a start. By the way, her's ended up being benign! Keep up the hope!!

    hi:
    Thank you for the support! There were times that I had a lot of trouble and wish I was dead, but now campare to the cancer, nothing else seems serious enough to wish the death and nothing more blessing than being healthy. A family member just found out that she has cancer, it changes everyone's attitute toward being alive. Wish you all the best!
  • jackie7964
    jackie7964 Member Posts: 16
    #9
    nico said:

    hi jackie:
    Thanks for the advice! I can find someone to go with me. My attitute to cancer is to always think the worse, so I can be prepare. But however I am prepared, I am sure I will still be shocked if the diagnosis confirmed.
    I am so nervous now, and I start to appreciate the time when there is no worries in life...

    Hi, Nico!

    Yes, I am familiar with that philosophy of expecting the worse, so you can be pleasantly surprised if reality is actually not the worst! I'm that way quite a bit, myself. However, in this case, I will be hoping for you that it is not the worst, and you have just a gland swollen from infection or something very benign.

    I surely hear you about the possibility of cancer making you appreciate times when you had no worries and just went around oblivious like everyone else. However, being more aware of the fragility of health and life itself does make you appreciate it more (or so it seems to me).

    Anyway, don't waste any more time--get yourself to a doctor (camp out at their office, if necessary) and demand that they figure out what your lump is. Don't let them put you off or tell you that they don't think it's anything and that you're overreacting. Make them give you a solid diagnosis.

    Good luck to you, and let us know how it goes.

    Jackie
  • lurlb
    lurlb Member Posts: 3
    #10
    Dana Farber Cancer Institute--Dept. of Head & Neck Oncology

    ***Brigham & Woman's Physician's Group-- 333 Longwood Ave. Dept. of Octolarangology
  • phattpig
    phattpig Member Posts: 29
    #11
    Nico,

    Make an appointment with your regular doctor as soon as possible. I had the same thing happen to me, and I put it off for over a year before I went to my doctor. By then it was almost to late. I thought it was my tonsils. Aftyer your doctor examines you, have him/her recommend a specialist, or make an appointment with an Ear, Nose, and Throat doctor. My ENT is the one who diagnosed my cancer.

    Feel free to email me at jjudson@cox.net if you want to talk about this any.

    Good luck,
    John

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