Post Chemo 35 Radiation Treatments...Lump Still There

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journey12
journey12 Member Posts: 1
in Head and Neck Cancer #1
The Lump in my neck has gotten smaller post Radiation and Chemo....but still there....sometimes, I think I imagine its starting to grow again....should I be worried at this point? I am 3 weeks post treatment.

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  • Hal61
    Hal61 Member Posts: 655
    #2
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    Lump
    Hi Journey, welcome to the board. What do the docs say about your leftover lump? Or are you just feeling it youself? At three weeks out, the radiation is still working on you, and you've probably got swelling, maybe some lymph buildup. Until you have a scan done, there is no way to tell--outside a biopsy--if the tissue is still active, or just still there and the cancer dead or dying.

    They usually won't schedule a scan until three months out, because of inflammation in the neck that will register false positive results.

    Let the docs know your concern and ask them about the lump, it may be just a bump now.

    wishing you the best, Hal
  • Kent Cass
    Kent Cass Member Posts: 1,898 Member
    #3
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    Hal61 said:

    Lump
    Hi Journey, welcome to the board. What do the docs say about your leftover lump? Or are you just feeling it youself? At three weeks out, the radiation is still working on you, and you've probably got swelling, maybe some lymph buildup. Until you have a scan done, there is no way to tell--outside a biopsy--if the tissue is still active, or just still there and the cancer dead or dying.

    They usually won't schedule a scan until three months out, because of inflammation in the neck that will register false positive results.

    Let the docs know your concern and ask them about the lump, it may be just a bump now.

    wishing you the best, Hal

    Lump
    My two lumps gradually disappeared completely. Hal is very correct. I know others have mentioned lumps that are, basically, comprised of dead C cells, which may still show on scan results after treatment. I hope and Pray this is the case. I have long noticed a couple small lumps in other areas that were blasted by the rads, but my 2-year PS/CT was last April, and clean. Keep in mind- the only way to know for 100% certain is with a biopsy, and if your ENT tries to convince you one way or another about it without such a biopsy- you might wanna consider suggesting a needle biopsy be done. I would not rely on the PS/CT results, solely, soon after treatment ends, as false-positives are well-known to happen, as Hal mentioned. Also, realize the treatment options for a second bout with C might not be so patient-friendly, so you do want a biopsy before anything radical is talked about.

    Please keep us informed on what's what, don't hesitate to ask questions, and use Sweet's Superthread.

    kcass
  • Greend
    Greend Member Posts: 678
    #4
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    two things
    First of all when I started treatment my Dr. fully expected to have to remove lymph glands after treatment. Turns out that wasn't necessary however I do still have "hard" (scared)lymphs and all new Doctors do a double check when they examine my neck for the first time.

    While I know some folks do still have problems following treatment the odss really are in your favor.


    Good luck when they check it out.
  • Hondo
    Hondo Member Posts: 6,636 Member
    #5
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    Lump
    There is still a small lump on the right side of my neck from where the tumor once was. It is dead and just scar tissue now but I do check it now and then and so does the doctor every time I see her. To me it is a battle scar that will be there till the day I die and I ware it proudly.

    Hondo
  • Kent Cass
    Kent Cass Member Posts: 1,898 Member
    #6
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    Hondo said:

    Lump
    There is still a small lump on the right side of my neck from where the tumor once was. It is dead and just scar tissue now but I do check it now and then and so does the doctor every time I see her. To me it is a battle scar that will be there till the day I die and I ware it proudly.

    Hondo

    Yes
    I had forgotten about the scar tissue, Tim, as being one of the possibles. Battle scar- I kinda like the sound of that. Is proof of the battle we've had to fight.

    kcass
  • waywest
    waywest Member Posts: 44
    #7
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    Post treatment lumps
    Hi Journey,
    Went through the same thing with my husband. The Onco explained that sometimes it takes time for the body to reabsorb the dead tissue from the original mass and often you will get a build up of scar tissue where the tumor was targeted. It was several months post treatment before it disappeared. I lost a lot of sleep over it and turned out to be nothing to worry about.

    Wendy
  • Hondo
    Hondo Member Posts: 6,636 Member
    #8
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    Kent Cass said:

    Yes
    I had forgotten about the scar tissue, Tim, as being one of the possibles. Battle scar- I kinda like the sound of that. Is proof of the battle we've had to fight.

    kcass

    Hi Kent
    It’s one hell of a war and the scars of battle are our medals of honor. People sometime stare at me when I walk in to a place of when I sit down to eat, they don’t think you see them looking but you do. As with us NPC Cancer survivor all out treatment is right to the face and I took it twice, so like I said just a battle scar to be wore proudly

    Hondo
  • buzz99
    buzz99 Member Posts: 404
    #9
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    Lumpy
    A lump is just a lump until proven otherwise with a biopsy. We were told that Buzz's cancer was back, based on the appearance of a lump. It was a necrotic (dead) lump node. The lump seemed to grow day by day. (Cancer does not grow that fast). The lump turned into an infection. The biopsy was negative! Karen
  • D Lewis
    D Lewis Member Posts: 1,581 Member
    #10
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    Inflammation
    Chiming in here. My doctor referred to my lymph nodes as "inflamed" after treatment. They showed up as enlarged on a 2-month post treatment MRI, but did not light up with my 3-month PET-CT.

    Deb
  • Goalie
    Goalie Member Posts: 184
    #11
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    D Lewis said:

    Inflammation
    Chiming in here. My doctor referred to my lymph nodes as "inflamed" after treatment. They showed up as enlarged on a 2-month post treatment MRI, but did not light up with my 3-month PET-CT.

    Deb

    Like it or ...
    After the treatment my lymph lump was still there and, as he expected to, the ENT decided it was best to have it out in a neck dissection. He had warned that this was likely way back in the beginning. They did a scan two months after treatment but, as I say, this was more for positioning than for diagnosis of anything. Still, it was negative which was good.

    The dissection took out 26 lymph nodes including the big lump and the biopsy of these was negative for 25/26 and dead cancer for the big one. Still, I am glad that I had it done if only for the peace of mind of not feeling the lump there and of knowing that it was all clean. I put up with the lymphedema as the price.

    By the way, I did a six-month scan in August and it was also clean. They don't even want to see me until February. Life is so good!

    (except for the dry mouth, the sore neck, the mucus, etc.)

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