Hi everyone :happy:
I'm Scott, I'm 28 & currently waiting on a biopsy result that is driving me mad even though I knew it would take a week & I only had it yesterday haha.
I have to say this forum has really helped me over the last two months and thought I'd post to share where I'm at.
In December I noticed some swollen lymph nodes at the right side of my neck in a straight line from behind my ear down to my collarbone. They were initially soft & movable but over the 4 weeks I was watching them they got slightly larger (about 1.5cm) and firmer. I called my GP at the beginning of Feb and booked a phone appointment 14 days later & then got a face to face appointment a week after that. By this point my nodes had softened and got quite small. My GP did a full examination and couldn't detect palpable nodes anywhere else but booked me in for a blood test 10 days after this. Waiting times in London for GP appointments are clearly bad but I was grateful she ordered the bloods. About 3 days after my first appointment, my supraclavicular node that was raised and floating around my clavicle became solid and filled the gap in the hollow of the right of my neck and was protruding, aching & particularly painful in the morning. After a few days of watching it I called 111 as my GP said if there are changes to book in again however when I tried the waiting time was 3 weeks. 111 then gave me a referral for the next day at my GP surgery (thank god)! My GP then measured my worrisome node at 3cm in diameter and referred me to Haematology on an urgent basis. The hospital called me the next day and booked in my appointment for the following Thursday (7 days later) - I was relieved.
At the hospital I saw my consultant who again did a thorough examination however my nodes had gone down significantly again by this point. The suspicious node by the collar bone had shrunk & gone flat and movable. She told me that she doesn't think I have cancer & that the reason I've lost weight over the last 6 months (2stone) is down to me training for a half marathon and cutting carbs. She told me all my bloods had come back fine but that I should have a chest X-ray & ordered more bloods that I did right after my appointment. She said she'll arrange an ultra sound on my neck just in case and if the consultant sees fit, he'll do a biopsy too. By this point I'm super relieved she thinks it'll be a simple infection. Up til now I've been so worried it's been really affecting my day to day life. I don't suffer with anxiety and I've just felt like something isn't right. It's been awful. So this opinion was welcome.
A day later I got a call from the hospital booking me in for my ultrasound biopsy in 2 days which was odd as I was told it was going to be within 4 weeks but obviously I was happy to get it done out of the way. So here I am... had my ultrasound & the consultant told me he will be doing the biopsy as it's highly suspicious. Interestingly he took from deeper into my neck closer to my neck muscle but not any of the nodes I'd been feeling. He kept telling me that he thinks it's a lymphoma but it could be benign but he'd put money on it being lymphoma. He took 4 samples. Obviously I'm now very worried and gutted as I'd got my hopes up it was nothing since my last appointment. He did keep saying I shouldn't worry as treatment is great & I'll be fine but just feel like I'd have preferred it if he hadn't kept saying how certain he was when none of us actually know yet & the hunch was the opposite to what my haematology consultant had told me. I haven't had any other symptoms & don't know results of 2nd lot of bloods or x Ray.
My thoughts right now are... prepare for the worst but try & remain positive even though the worry is all incompassing. I'm wondering whether they saw something in my chest x Ray which is why they got me straight in for the ultrasound? Maybe I'm over thinking that. I'm also slightly peeved that the doctor let on so much what he thinks it is to such an extent as now I've just got to wait a week....
Sorry for the essay haha but felt writing it all out would help. Hoping the doc was wrong!! Thanks for reading.
Scott