I have just been sent for a needle biopsy on my neck. It's a lymph node for sure, granted the lump has been there and painless for the whole of lockdown, and longer. Truth is I have had it a long time and not thought much of it since it's not visible. 

I keep good health apart from having migraines now and again and just a few mild inflammatory issues but having come through my second frozen shoulder. This time it's the same side as the lump is. 

So I attended, was not given a local, had to drive there and be alone due to COVID. Only to be told it is inconclusive. I found it very hard to bear and I'm not soft, I was kindly looked after, but the consultant did one needle and the registrar did the other. The pain down the nerve in my arm was terrible...

I am told now that I need a surgical biopsy with a general anaesthesia and will be out on the same day. The stinger is that there is a 20% chance of permenant nerve damage and weakness in my arm. This is my writing hand we're talking about and I just feel like I wasn't given the time to absorb this news, there and then after having fainted. 

Should I not be given an MRI first, he seemed quite dismissive. But this is my life and livelihood