Hi all :)

I'm a 25 year old female, I'm overweight but apart from that, I'd say i'm relatively healthy. Just before Christmas, I noticed a lump under the skin of my neck, just under my jawline in the crevis. It wasn't firm but didn't feel fluid filled and it moved when I prodded it so I went to the doctor that day and they said it could be my glands swollen as I'd recently been ill. She advised keeping an eye on it and if it doesn't clear up or gets bigger, I should go back. So I left the appointment feeling a bit silly but relieved.

Fast forward to today, it hasn't gotten bigger but I've not been to the doctors since and I think I'm just scared of what could happen. Anyway, I was having my general prod of it (it still moves) and I *think* I've found a smaller, harder lump slightly further down my neck. I can only feel it if I press hard enough and it's relatively close to my adam's apple (or whatever the female equivelant is!) so I could be mistaking it for the boney structure already there. It's smooth, doesn't move and is slightly tender but I'm not sure if it's because it's actually tender or because I keep feeling around for it. My neck doesn't hurt when I move, none of these lumps are visible, I don't have any of the general 'cancer' symptoms so I suppose I haven't really been too worried until now...

I'm not going to put off going to the doctors anymore and I'm going to book in for sometime this week or early next week - I just need to work around my work schedule as I'm a social worker in a hospital and I commute so getting an appointment that doesn't disrupt my work can be difficult (not that my health isn't important enough to miss work because I absolutely will for it!). To add to that, I also had an abnormal smear in January but my colposcopy was clear so I'm attending a follow-up appointment on Friday to explore what to do next with the consultant.

Obviously, I'm worried about it but there are people worse off than me in the world so I'm just going to bite the bullet and get it looked at. I get married this year so I'd much rather get it done and have that to look forward to.

But if anyone has any experience with neck lumps like the ones I've described, your advice would be much appreciated!

Thanks in advance :) x