Swollen lymph nodes and lump on tonsils

Hi

Im really worried, first day of lockdown I developed a 5cm lymph node in my neck, seemed to come up overnight, its hard but does move very slightly, not painful, when it first came up the surrounding skin was red but thats long gone, also had pain in my ear on same side.  On 24 April lump still there, had video call with doctor as I also had thyroid pain and a strange heavy feeling in the centre of my chest, Ive had a course of antibiotics in case it was sinus related but no other symptoms, gland is now 4 cm, on 1 May I noticed a small lump on my tonsil on this side too, which over the few days since has grown in size, I also had bloods taken on 1 May, FBCs and CRP all came back as normal. As of yesterday lymph node is 4cm, still have large lump on tonsil, feel like armpit nodes are around 1cm ish but wobble about, so could just be me stressing.  Doctor has put me on the urgent referral pathway to have an ultrsound but has said due to covid he didnt think they were doing them so didnt know how long it would be.  Ive not had any other symptoms, very slight night sweats, but I think these are more due to worrying as im not drenched just hot.

I know my GP is doing what they can but I just feel a little abandoned because of the virus, I'm a single parent of a 4 and 5 year old, I'm working from home and trying to home school on top of all this, I also have no real social network as my family live 400 miles away, so needless to say things are a little overwhelming at the moment, and as im sure everyone on here knows the waiting is awful, I swing from being really positive to im doomed! (mainly middle of the night).

Has anyone been in a similar position, thank you anyone who has taken the time to read.

Pamela

  • Hi Winnie

    Hope your appointment didnt get cancelled today and it all went well, thinking of you x

    Pamela

  • Hi Pamela ... it's been a bit of a week . I got myself into such a state last Friday that I took myself off to A&E . Thankfully there were some ENT drs on call and I was seen by them . They took a look at the back of my throat and they think that the lump on the back wall of my throat looks like a mucous retention cyst. They don't seem concerned about it. They felt my neck and couldn't feel anything suspicious. They then put the camera up through my nose and took a look but said all looked ok . Bloods came back ok too . I've got an MRI scan booked this coming Saturday with contrast to further rule anything out. I asked the dr about one if my tonsils being quite a bit bigger than the other but he said it looks and feels ok. Again the mri will check . He said some people just have one bigger. I've still got earache , neck pain and pain under my arm pit all on the side of the big tonsil . I can still also feel the sensation of something being stuck in my tonsil , like in the bottom of it near the tongue base. I'm still really worked up not knowing what going on . The dr did mention maybe it's a tonsil stone in the gland or deep in the tonsil . 
    im hoping that due to them not really finding anything of concern last Friday it's a positive sign . Petrified of this mri scan too! My health anxiety is off the scale . 
    how are you doing? Thanks for asking xxx 

  • That sounds like really good news, the ENT guys see this all the time so I would trust their judgement.  MRI will obviously tell if there is anything deeper that they cant see, but if your lymph nodes are normal that is a really good sign.  MRI is ok, this was the 5th one ive had, I have neuro problems too, normally I fall asleep but his time I had just had the news from radiology so was a bit jumpy, but the procedure itself is fine, little bit claustrphobic but just pick some good music then let the tic tocs do their thing.

    I ended up in A&E yesterrday or coronary care unit, I called my GP to ask for something to help me sleep and told her I had terrible heartburn which was coming in waves for 3 days, they had already prescribed me omeprazole which I hadnt taken, I wanted to ask if it was ok to take, she ended up sending an ambulance, saying I could be having a heart attack, if I wasnt panicking before, I certainly was after that, paramedics said I was fine but said my GP had insisted on me going to hospital, the cardiologist spoke to me for 5 mins ran an ecg and immediately sent me home, saying im not surprised you are stressed and the sweating is associated with the lymph node, he was furious that the GP had sent me, so I still have nothing to help me sleep. Im now majorly worried, appointment tomorrow to hopefully find out results and where we go from here.  Im absolutely convinced it has spread and just want to get started before its too late, sorry I know that sounds dramatic, but yesterday was just the tipping point.

    Let me know how the MRI goes x

  • I'm sorry you had to go through all of that yesterday ... have they given you any indication of what might be wrong? My ent dr told me that there's a lot of reasons lymph nodes enlarge ...and also as I was sweating a lot too he said that would be anxiety . Wishing you all the best and more for tomorrow , let us know how you get on , always here for a chat if you need it xxx

  • They said most likely tonsil cancer due to the mutant thing but at the moment couldnt rule out lymphoma, so need to wait for the histology results.  They could tell from the ultrasound of the lymph node that it was sinister, so then need to find the source, fingers crossed for tomorrow x

     

  • I have to say it was radiology that told me this, ENT havent commented as yet, as they wouldnt till histology back. (I got the impression they were not too happy about them telling me this)

  • Gosh I didn't even think that they were allowed to tell you anything until a consultant had looked at the report . Was that straight after you had had it done? No wonder you have felt so anxious . Will keep everything crossed for you tomorrow and hope for some positive news xxx

  • Hey Winnie! Thanks for checking in! 
     

    I have my MRI scan tomorrow so that's a positive for me however I broke down yesterday as I found a lymph node about the same size as mine on my collarbone on my 17 month old sons collarbone but the otherwise and I'm freaking out! Booked an appointment with the doctor who sees me but he's no in till next Friday but I guess that gives me two weeks to see if it goes down which they usually ask you to do anyways but I'm super sad! How are you getting on? X

  • I'm sorry to hear about your son , hopefully it will all gone down by the time you see the dr. I'm ok thanks , still worrying . I have an mri scan this coming Saturday with contrast on my neck . I updated above about panicking and ending up in A&E last Friday  . Just trying to stay distracted until i know what's going on. 
    Let us know how you get on tomorrow with your mri scan , wishing and hoping for all the best xx