About a year ago (possibly longer than that even) I found a small lump
in the right side of my neck, between my ear and shoulder. It's on the
neck, but closer to my shoulder, than ear. It's maybe twice the size of
a jellybean, firm, and moveable. I have no pain from touching it, but I
have been having random ear aches in my right ear, some sudden weight
loss, and an over-all feeling of tiredness. My first Dr. that I had
seen about it over a year ago, examined it, and said that she "couldn't
feel anything"....when I persisted she finally said "well it's just
part of your neck, don't worry about it. She gave me some antibiotics
and told me to come see her in a few months, but to just forget about
it till then. Few months go by, and it's still there. She blows is off
as nothing again, and tells me not to worry. So many months later
(about a week ago) I went to see my internal medicine dr. about some
other stuff, and asked her to feel the lump while she was examining me.
She felt it and said that it was in my lymph node, and that it needed
to be checked out by General Surgery, who she set me an appointment up
with this week. Her first thought was that it was "cat scratch
disease", which I guess was ruled out....I've had the same cat for
years now, have been around cats all my life, and the lump didn't
respond to any kind of various antibiotics that I've had to take for
different things over the past year or so.
So anyways, I have this appointment with GS on wednesday, and I'm not
sure what to expect. Is there any reason why they WOULDN'T do a biopsy?
I would rather go through some discomfort and in the end KNOW what it
is, then to have to keep wondering if they missed something. If it
turns out to be nothing, no harm, no foul right? It's not as if it's
some huge dangerous procedure, the risks outweigh the consequences of
NOT knowing. And if they do decide to do a biopsy, will they did it
that same day, or reschudule me to come in some other time? I'd rather
just get it done and over with, not have to wait another week stressing
out over it.
Oh, and I did have some blood work done a few months ago, and all
seemed normal. Is there anything that wouldn't show up in a basic blood
count? I mean, if something is wrong, then wouldn't they have seen an
abnomality of some sort in it? Sorry for all the questions, I'm just
really sick of being jerked around with my health by doctors, the
people who are supposed to help in keeping you healthy! Grrrr....
Any tips or advice, or heck, even random mumblings would be great!:)