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Really worried about Lymphoma or worse

Loubyloo65
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I found a lump in my neck in January and saw my GP who said it was a swollen lymph node the size of a pea and made a non urgent referral for an ultrasound.

I saw a locum a few weeks later as I felt real pressure and fullness in my ear as well as sinus pain, blocked nostril etc. She told me my turbinates in my nose are really enlarged and I also have a deviated septum (broke my nose 40 years ago). She reckoned it was all stemming from that and prescribed a steroid nasal spray. This interfered with my arrhythmia so I made another appointment for last Friday to see if I could have an alternative. I saw a different locum who said the lump in my neck is now the size of 2 peas and has made an urgent referral to ENT for me. 

I had a chest x-ray yesterday and ENT emailed me a questionnaire to complete which I have done and sent back. I still have the fullness in my ear (which is uncomfortable rather than painful) but I also feel a fullness in my neck now as well and I think my armpit on the same side is swollen too and it aches. I still have the alternating blocked nostrils and sinus pain. I don't have any other symptoms of lymphoma like drenching night sweats (other than feeling a bit sticky during the night sometimes but this isn't new and I put it down to age) I haven't lost any weight, in fact I have struggled to lose any at all even though I'm trying. I have noticed that when I swallow that side of my neck at the bottom seems to move  and is more pronounced than the other side. 

I'm trying hard not to fret but I'm really quite worried in case something sinister is going on. My daughter is having a baby in August and she really needs me. 

Has anyone had anything similar that they can share? So many people post here and then don't really follow up with outcomes so you don't get a fulll picture. 

Hope to hear from anyone ️

L xx 

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    Hi L

    so I'm afraid the only real responses you're going to get on here are from people who have had cancer and had lymphoma - hence the reluctance for anyone to offer advice. Sometimes it's difficult to offer advice about experiences without worrying you further.

    I am one of those people - I'm in Remission from Lymphoma and the only advice I can give you is to try to stay calm and wait for the tests and things to come back before jumping to too many conclusions. A swollen lymph node can be a very large number of things before cancer.. for example, you could have a sinus infection which would cause this.

    so I'm afraid the only advice any of us can give you if we have shared your symptoms is 'yes, it was cancer for me'.. not very helpful for you at this stage.

    I wish you all the best with the tests, but please don't panic about information you don't have yet 

  • Offline in reply to AnxiousAsAMouse

    Thank you very much for your reply.

    You're spot on about people probably not wanting to reply because they don't want to worry me further. I did read that someone else said you don't have cancer until someone tells you that you have cancer, so I'm going to try and live by that in the meantime and keep busy. I've always been in fear of cancer so that's why my mind jumped straight there. 

    I'm glad to hear that you're in remission and I've seen on other posts how supportive you are towards others, so thank you again for the advice. 

    L x

  • Offline in reply to Loubyloo65

    That's not a problem.

    ive been where you are.. right now.. and the only REAL advice I can give you which i really recommend you take is - stay away from Google. Fight every urge. Don't search for anything.

    literally any symptom you type in to Google will come back as cancer. 'I have a red toenail is that cancer?' 'Yes'. Lol 

  • Offline in reply to AnxiousAsAMouse

    Posting an update in case it is helpful to anyone else experiencing similar symptoms to me.

    I had my ENT appointment at the hospital today. I had a very thorough examination of my neck and the doctor agreed that he could feel a lump which he described as "subtle". This was followed by a camera up my nose and down my throat. The doctor took a video as he was doing it and then we watched it back together where he explained everything we were seeing. Everything looked fine and there was nothing of concern. I was then sent for an ultrasound scan and the doctor there scanned all over my neck, jaw and collar bone and told me that although he could see some swollen lymph nodes,  they are reactive and nothing of concern. I've had these raised nodes for 6 months now but he told me that sometimes they never go back to their normal size but that I did absolutely the right thing in getting them checked out.

    I feel like I got 5* service today so I'm very grateful as well as relieved.       

  • Offline in reply to Loubyloo65

    Do you know how big your lymph nodes are now? And have they continued to get bigger over those 6 months?

    Happy you have a good outcome, bet you feel relieved x

  • Offline in reply to Kl30

    He didn't say how big they are and I forgot to ask but he said there were a few. I feel like the lump is the same size as it was in January but it was GP who said size of a pea and then a couple of months later that a locum said the size of 2 peas. 

    Yes, I'm very relieved indeed and thank you. x  

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