What should I except when i go to the ENT doctor?

Sometimes the ENT will order a CT scan of head/neck. Also, he/she may scope you to look for lesions in the nasal passage or throat. It doesn't hurt. They numb the inside of your nose with spray and put a very skinny tube with a camera. Takes 30 minutes and trust me, if I can do it, anyone can. He/she MAY Oder an ultrasound, but I think CT is more common. An ENT will sometimes order a biopsy. A fine needle aspiration biopsy doesn hurt but it's usually not indicated for lymphom. A lymphoma CAN show this way but can also be missed. An excisional biopsy is the norm.  That would of course be ordered for another day.

Badadams,

My take on ENTs is not good.  Obviously, they vary by individual doctor. Reasonably, they are going to make a working assumption that what you have is not cancer, since most people who present like you in fact do not have cancer.  But most will also use reasonable vigilence in checking for malignancy.   Also, I agree with all that Miracle wrote: That is the very likely sequence of events at the ENT Clinic.

A surgical biopsy is much to be preferred. Aspirational ("needle") biopsies are too commonly wrong or inconclusive.  If the ENT recommends biopsy, specify that you prefer excise. 

And CT is dramatically better at assessing Lymphoma than is ultrasound.

Two years after going N.E.D. of Lymphoma, I one day felt a large lump in my throat. It frightened me badly. After it persisted for several days, I went in to see my medical oncologist, a man with 5 Board Certifications, and all-Ivy (Stanford, UCLA, etc).  I asked if he felt it, and he responded, "Oh sure -- it is easy to detect."   A moment later, however, he added, " That is a gland, not a lymph node.  If it doesn't go away in another week, call back. But it is absolutley nothing to worry about."   My ideal choice in a doctor is a person who has common sense, a strong sense of probabilities, and who responds straight-up, immediately. Cut to the chase and let's move forward.  Save the fluff for the next patient....

It's all about whom you talk to, and whether the right testing is done.  I worked for years in Admin at a large state college.  I soon noted that whether a person got the services they needed depended on "who answered the phone."  One administrator would say, "Sorry, we need this and this, becoause of this and that."  Another would say in response to the exact same particulars, "Sure, I'll handle that for you in a few minutes."  I have observed this 100 times, and it is most common in medicine and government offices. The luck of the draw is ever at play.  Very often, the best way to get service in a large organization is to simply call back five minutes later and ask the exact same question again. You will never have the same person answer twice.

max

Max Former Hodgkins Stage 3 said:

ENT

Badadams,

My take on ENTs is not good.  Obviously, they vary by individual doctor. Reasonably, they are going to make a working assumption that what you have is not cancer, since most people who present like you in fact do not have cancer.  But most will also use reasonable vigilence in checking for malignancy.   Also, I agree with all that Miracle wrote: That is the very likely sequence of events at the ENT Clinic.

A surgical biopsy is much to be preferred. Aspirational ("needle") biopsies are too commonly wrong or inconclusive.  If the ENT recommends biopsy, specify that you prefer excise. 

And CT is dramatically better at assessing Lymphoma than is ultrasound.

Two years after going N.E.D. of Lymphoma, I one day felt a large lump in my throat. It frightened me badly. After it persisted for several days, I went in to see my medical oncologist, a man with 5 Board Certifications, and all-Ivy (Stanford, UCLA, etc).  I asked if he felt it, and he responded, "Oh sure -- it is easy to detect."   A moment later, however, he added, " That is a gland, not a lymph node.  If it doesn't go away in another week, call back. But it is absolutley nothing to worry about."   My ideal choice in a doctor is a person who has common sense, a strong sense of probabilities, and who responds straight-up, immediately. Cut to the chase and let's move forward.  Save the fluff for the next patient....

It's all about whom you talk to, and whether the right testing is done.  I worked for years in Admin at a large state college.  I soon noted that whether a person got the services they needed depended on "who answered the phone."  One administrator would say, "Sorry, we need this and this, becoause of this and that."  Another would say in response to the exact same particulars, "Sure, I'll handle that for you in a few minutes."  I have observed this 100 times, and it is most common in medicine and government offices. The luck of the draw is ever at play.  Very often, the best way to get service in a large organization is to simply call back five minutes later and ask the exact same question again. You will never have the same person answer twice.

max

Add IT to that list. IT support is just as bad. 

But medicine is running scared from legal challenges, so we get the cancer scare and ENT/Hematologist referrals for little more than the common cold. Now, it could be something serious, but those high white count lymphocytes have to go somewhere, right? Where else except to lymph nodes that are nearest the infection. How are your teeth? How are your tonsils, if you have them? How is your throat? Sinuses? It is far too early to think cancer.