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Doctors Lounge - Oncology Answers
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| mross
- Mon Jun 20, 2005 3:16 pm |
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About 2 months ago I noticed a small hard lump on the back of my head. It's about even with the top of my ear and about half way between my ear and the center of my head. A couple of weeks later I started getting headaches almost every day that were usually throbbing and generally radiated from the back of my head forward. I went to see my doctor who briefly felt the lump and said that it was nothing to worry about and probably a cyst. I had a skull/sinus x-ray as he suspected sinusitis as a cause for the headaches. Now that the headaches have gone away I'm not longer concerned about them but I recently (4 or 5 days ago) noticed 3 hard, small lumps on the left side of my neck (about 2 inches up from my collarbone, all seem to be on my trapezius). Two of them are on the back, one right above the other, and the other is on the front. The one in the front I am able to hold in between my fingers and is very mobile. The two on the back are identical and feel just like little bumps underneath the skin. And like I said earlier, they are all fairly hard.
How big does a lymph node need to be in this area to be considered enlarged?
The reason all this has me concerned is that from what I've read on the internet masses in that area of the neck are not very common and usually malignant. I've also read that the scalp is the area that drains to these lymph nodes. Is there a possibility that the bump on my head wasn't a cyst and is actually a hardened lymph node and that it has drained into this new spot?
Like I've read in so many other posts I'm constantly worried. It seems as though once I finally put one concern behind me another one presents itself...sometimes resurfacing some of my old concerns.
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| Dr. Wafaa Abdel-Hadi
- Tue Jun 21, 2005 12:43 pm |
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Dear Mross,
I suggest you'd ask for a CT scan for the head and neck .... followed by FNAC(biopsy ) of the biggest lymph node....if the CT scan was suspicious.
Don't be lazy and please arrange to do that just to make sure that you're on the right path.
Best regards,
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| mross
- Tue Jun 21, 2005 2:36 pm |
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I went to see a doctor at a walk-in clinic last night (before your response was posted) and he felt around. One of the lumps was quite hard to find for him. He feels that all of them (including the bump on the back of my head) are glands. He could tell I was worried and said that he was almost positive it wasn't cancer. I got a blood test done today to see if it could be mono (my brother has it) so I'm waiting for those results. He also said that if I was really worried about it he's sure my regular doctor would be able to do a biopsy. I have an appointment with my regular family doctor this Friday so I'll ask for the CT scan then. Do these kind of lumps sound suspicious to you or is there a good chance they have come from some sort of scalp infection or something else?? Thanks.
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| mross
- Tue Jun 21, 2005 3:55 pm |
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Just realized that if the lump on my head was a sebaceous cyst it would make sense that the nodes would be a bit swollen in the exact area that they are as a result of any kind of infection to it. For now I'll just hope that's the explanation :? ....I'm still going to go ahead and ask for the CT scan just to be certain.
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| Dr. Wafaa Abdel-Hadi
- Wed Jun 22, 2005 3:56 pm |
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Well, the lumps in your head are not as suspicious as yje lump in your neck... so it'd be better to do the CT scan and the biopsy really....and good thing you mentioned the mono :)
Best regards
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| mross
- Thu Jun 23, 2005 8:02 am |
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My dad called the doctor (I think I forgot to mention that I'm only 18) and asked about the blood test. Everything showed up completely normal and I do not have mono. Haha, I think this is the only time in my life I would have been disappointed that I don't have mono! Anyway, he was talking to my dad and basically said that he certainly doesn't believe it is cancer and that if it was up to him he would wait a month to see if they go down, but that sometimes a biopsy is necessary to calm the anxiety. I'm happy to say that he's been really helpful, even though he is not my regular family physician he said that if I wanted to go through him he could arrange for a surgeon to perform it or I could go through my regular doctor if I preferred. Unfortunately CT scans here in Canada aren't exactly a simple process and I have a feeling that if I asked for one my situation wouldn't exactly be considered urgent and I could end up waiting at least a month anyway. I'll talk to my doctor about it and if he really doesn't feel the biopsy is necessary at this point my parents said they'll drive me over to USA (I live on a border city) to pay to get the scan done. I noticed yesterday that my scalp is mildly irritated and red on the left side...lets keep our fingers crossed for a scalp infection. Thanks for listening.
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