Biopsy?

Sorry to hear of your concern. A small incision is made - walk in, wallk out procedure. I would refuse any type of needle biopsy, as those provide too many false negative readings. Do let us know what comes to pass.

sunnysenny said:

I figured I'd post an update!

I figured I'd post an update! The surgeon I saw back in April did an ultrasound and it measured .47cm by .91. That doc said it was too small for him to care about and even though I have had been enlarged since Febuary and already went through a course of antibiotics he said it would probably go away on its own and to contact him if it got bigger. He didn't have the best bedside manner.

So I ignored it. I saw my pcp in my hometown at the end of July for a checkup and I mentioned the swollen occipital node. He felt it and said that it might be a part of my skull and wanted to do a CT to confirm it was a node. I did the CT of my head. Brain is fine, it is a node now measuring 1.6cm x .9cm and it mentiones that there are other smaller similar lymph nodes of note in a chain.  So this doctor doesnt want to order a full excsional biopsy but is willing to order an ultrasound guided FNA. So I go the first week of August.

I go on a Friday and speak with the doctor. He wants to do the regular pathological malagnancy test and a separate test for lymphoma but since it was a Friday I was told by the nurse they weren't able to order the test for lymphoma. They tell me to talk with my pcp if I'm still concerned once the FNA results come in. The results come in with an updated ultrasound measurment of 1.1 x 1.6 x .5 and there's no sign of malignancy. The doctor said it was lymphoid hyperplasia and no further testing was needed.

A week after the FNA I noticed a palpable lump (not too big) on my neck. It seemed to be another lymph node. I waited until mid september to see another pcp in the town I'm staying in. He runs another CBC, bmp, thyroid, and for lymes because I'm terribly fatigued (like in bed by 10pm sleeping until 8am fighting my alarm and almost falling asleep anytime I stop physically moving). Everything comes back normal. He refers me to another surgeon to have the lymph node removed becuase it's causing me a lot of physical discomfort (the skin around it gets painful and swollen on occasion and whenever I brunsh my hair the area around it hurts. Never the node itself).

So this doctor is going to remove the big one completely on October 3rd and test it for everything including lymphoma. So hopefully I'll a 100% answer in the next few weeks. I have no B symptoms thankfully (just the swollwen nodes, headaches, and extreme fatigue) and my blood work doesn't indicate an auto immunde disease. I just want to rule everything serious out and work on finding a solution to my exhaustion.

I hope everyone else is doing well! If anyone has any recommendations on what to expect from the outpatient procedure I'd really like to hear expereinces. They told me I had to have someone pick me up? Why is that?

Thanks for reading!

 

I hope that all goes smoothly during your biopsy; they usually do.  And I agree that it would be wise to arrange to be driven home.   I also agree with everyone that an excise biopsy is much to be preferred.   Lymphoma presenting in the area of the eye is often CNS-related (central nervous system).  But of course it is not confirmed that you have ANY type of lyymphoma yet.  And lymphomas involving the CNS are about as treatable as any others anyway.   I hope you share your discoveries and  continue asking questions that occure to you,

max