I am currently 24 years old and on the 2-week pathway about a neck lump I have had for at least 10 years. It's on the left side, and while it started out the size of a pea, it is now approximately the size and shape of a golf ball cut in half (with the round side facing out). For anyone else in the same boat, mine is located around the temporomandibular joint.

Over the last couple months, I have been so incredibly exhausted, and I didn't know why, so I figured I would ask my GP about the lump. My first appointment was all of three minutes long (granted, it was made on an urgent basis), she felt my neck and immediately referred me for blood tests and an ultrasound. I barely had time to mention that I have a family history of cancer before I was out the door. In addition to other familial cancer cases, I know that there is a relative down the line that had a parotid gland tumor, and cancer in other parts of the body, but I don't know if his parotid tumor specifically was malignant. However, he had the same pattern of growth in the same time period as mind, stemming from a pea-sized lump in childhood to a walnut in his thirties. 

I have gotten my blood test results back, and my complete blood cell count was low.  It has been two weeks since my first appointment and I just received a letter yesterday informing me that I have been referred to the ultrasound service. I've read on a lot of the posts that the waiting is the worse part, and I have to agree. It's the unknown that makes it so difficult.

That brings me to why I'm posting here; can anyone who has been diagnosed with a parotid tumor (benign or malignant) tell me what their treatment process was like, including wait times? Once you got results back and met with your GP, what happened next? Were you referred to the ENT clinic? Did you get any imaging scans (CT, MRI), and if so, how long was the wait for that? Did you see a multi-disciplinary team? When did a surgical team get involved, and what were those meetings like? How long was the wait between your diagnosis and your surgery?  

I appreciate any insight anyone can provide. Not knowing the timeline or what's coming next is driving me nuts. I hope everyone is doing well.