huge neck lump and swollen nodes.help

If you think it may be cancer, it is torture to have to wait three more weeks for this appointment.  I would first call the specialist's office and ask to be moved up.  Simply tell them you think this is malignant, and that you are scared to pieces since it has been so long waiting already.  If you don't get help this way, call the referring doctor's office back and ask for help getting in sooner.  If not where you've already been referred, then somewhere else.  What specialty have you been referred to?

Pat

julieann290 said:

thanks for your response .i

thanks for your response .i have been refered to ear nose and throat specialists.in our area the doc goes on the computer during the appointment and requests a referal and an appointment gets printed out.so thats how i got my appointment for 6th march.she did say however that when they receive her referal letter through the post they might ring me to go in sooner as its been going on for so long.this 3rd doctor i seen was quite appalled that i gad seen 2 doctors prior to seeing ger and not 1 of them refered me on.instead they just left me and made excuses.

This system doesn't work very well.  Somebody should pick up the phone right now.  I'd keep ringing people myself until something changed.  I'd personally call both the referring doctor's office and the referral office every day until this happens.  be nice, but be insistent.  You don't likely have SCC of the throat, from the description you've given.  If you are proven to have a malignancy, it is more likelly going to be something primarily involvving the lymph nodes, like a lymphoma.  Now I'm not trying to diagnose you, but I'm just saying that your situation may need to involve yet more referrals, because ENT doesn't treat everything that shows up in the area of the neck.  So again, be an advvocate for yourself.  The squeaky wheel gets the grease.

Wishing you the best.

Pat

Hi Julieann,

It seems there is a general time period of a month to three months from the onset of noticable symptoms to diagnosis. I had caught a cold/sinus infection last August and was treated with two courses of antibiotics between September and the end of November when I was diagnosed. Then, a misstep concerning treatment plans and decisions and here I am, just having undergone a neck dissection. Treatment will begin in a few weeks. 

I can tell you by this time last week before surgery, I was feeling ill. Similar symptoms but not all. Mind you, I was diagnosed as positive for Squamous Cell Carcinoma Head and Neck Unknown Primary. Tx N2b MO Stage IV. 

The squeaky wheel definitely gets the oil so be persistent and remember, it's NOT cancer until the tests say it is! 

"T"

I kind of went the same route as you... First saw my GP early October..., he gave me antibiotics.. They did squat, saw him again a few weeks later..., he gave me stronger meds...Levaquinn..., again squat.

It's early December now with Holidays and all, saw my ENT January 2..., first thing out of his mouth once he scoped me and sent me down for a CT... He was 90% plus sure I had SCC Tonsil Cancer... Ended up after biopsy, etc... STGIII Tonsil Cancer HPV+... But clean and clear since finishing treatment mid June 2009.

Now I in no way want to scare you, I was having a few other issues long before, but I didn't think they were serious and kept blowing them off...

I'm like Pat, and more than likely you have some other issue. But you have noway at all determing that without seeing an ENT and having some testing completed...

I'm all for stressing to your GP, and the ENT that you want something done sooner... If the ENT can't get you in any sooner, ask for another referal to an MD that can.

Best ~ John

Julieann,

When my husband came home from the drs office with a copy of his results, I sent him to the ENT's office to personally deliver a hard copy. The nurse said the ENT would read it within 24 hours. Before he got in the elevator, the nurse came back out, and said be here tomorrow, 8:30 am, he's going to do biopsies. 

Not sure if that would work for you, but hard to say no when they are looking in your eyes.

hope the doctors can accommodate you!

Kari

i agree you have to be your own advocate.  I went through the same deal, infection as the first dianosis then opps maybe cancer, then maybe not, etc.  It will take some time to get it all sorted out or at least it did for me.  I would call and ask to get in before, explain exactly why.  I found it funny that I could get into the Cleveland Clinic (330 miles from me) before I could get into see the local doctors.  I don't think the wait hurt my treatment, but my neck did not get big as fast as yours is moving. 

Not sure why the original post was flagged...

I presume it was just a mistake, unless I missed something.

John

 BTW, got the original post UN-Flagged..., just an FYI, flagging just lets the MOD know that something might be offense, what not and to take a look at the post and determine if it should stay or go...

I presume this was flagged my mistake...

JG

I noticed a lump on my neck, right side, over the holidays and assumed it was a swollen lymph node so waited for the cold.  The cold never came and the node stayed, so after about 3 weeks I had it checked.  My primary felt all around my other lymph nodes and did not find any others swollen, did not know what it was, so sent me for a CT Scan.  There was a mass a little over an inch so he sent me to an ENT specialist who took a biopsy.  A week later I was diagnosed with cancer.  That was 3 weeks ago.  I start radiation and chemo on Monday to attack HPV-positive Stage IV cancer of the tonsil that has spread to two lymph nodes, the large one already mentioned and a much much smaller one.  My prognosis is very very good for severaly reasons including acting quickly.  God Bless my primary!

Bottom line--get to a specialist ASAP.  I felt foolish going in, getting the scan, etc.....but am I glad I did.  Better safe than sorry.  Blessings to you.  

guerreje said:

I noticed a lump on my neck,

I noticed a lump on my neck, right side, over the holidays and assumed it was a swollen lymph node so waited for the cold.  The cold never came and the node stayed, so after about 3 weeks I had it checked.  My primary felt all around my other lymph nodes and did not find any others swollen, did not know what it was, so sent me for a CT Scan.  There was a mass a little over an inch so he sent me to an ENT specialist who took a biopsy.  A week later I was diagnosed with cancer.  That was 3 weeks ago.  I start radiation and chemo on Monday to attack HPV-positive Stage IV cancer of the tonsil that has spread to two lymph nodes, the large one already mentioned and a much much smaller one.  My prognosis is very very good for severaly reasons including acting quickly.  God Bless my primary!

Bottom line--get to a specialist ASAP.  I felt foolish going in, getting the scan, etc.....but am I glad I did.  Better safe than sorry.  Blessings to you.  

Sounds like you are on schedule for the same or very close treatment that many of us have had...

Best ~ John

CivilMatt said:

me too

Guerreje,

 

Welcome to the H&N forum and most sorry you are here

 

I too felt a lump on my neck while shaving.  My GP gave it a week to get better then punted to the ENT team.  Wham, bam thank you ma’am, I am here.

 

Matt

Matt,

Dan did the antibiotic route too... Scary it was 2007... The doctor said if the node doesn't go away come back.. Then he sold his practice and stopped taking appointments. We didn't have a primary, and busy planning our wedding, buying a house, I had a heart attack, then my gall bladder went belly up.. And that little cancer sat there waiting.. For 5 years before it took off on the growth charts... We thank god everyday it was sitting there dormant. I often think what if... But the tumor in his tonsil was small, so it might have been worse if it were unknown primary... and the doctors have had time to learn more... Just scary when you realize later..  Thankfully, we hopefully found out in time to be just as effective.

Kari