Aa
Biopsy done, waiting, worried
Hi,
So I found three lumps at the upper left side of my neck. Two months later and several doc visits later, I was sent to the surgeon to remove the biggest one, which was like 3,5*1,5 cm big, almond shaped, soft, movable, non tender but...big. I had a weird neck infection before this but they didn't find anything suspicious. My chest X-ray is ok, ultrasound of my abdomen too (or at least it was, 3 weeks ago) and my bloodwork is also completely normal... I'm scared that the biopsy will show something bad and need stories about benign big lymph nodes and support from you folks since I've read some posts here and you are just an amazing group in this.
Also, I've noticed a golf ball sized lump/knot right under my incision... Have any of you experienced something like this? It's a bit tender, round, soft movable. Almost like a lymph node but the one there was taken out and it's really a perfect circle...
It has been a week since my biopsy and they told me to call for the results today but they are not back yet and I have to wait for another week! It's devastating! So anxious...
Thanks for any reply.
So I found three lumps at the upper left side of my neck. Two months later and several doc visits later, I was sent to the surgeon to remove the biggest one, which was like 3,5*1,5 cm big, almond shaped, soft, movable, non tender but...big. I had a weird neck infection before this but they didn't find anything suspicious. My chest X-ray is ok, ultrasound of my abdomen too (or at least it was, 3 weeks ago) and my bloodwork is also completely normal... I'm scared that the biopsy will show something bad and need stories about benign big lymph nodes and support from you folks since I've read some posts here and you are just an amazing group in this.
Also, I've noticed a golf ball sized lump/knot right under my incision... Have any of you experienced something like this? It's a bit tender, round, soft movable. Almost like a lymph node but the one there was taken out and it's really a perfect circle...
It has been a week since my biopsy and they told me to call for the results today but they are not back yet and I have to wait for another week! It's devastating! So anxious...
Thanks for any reply.
COMMUNITY LEADER
Congratulations, Kate. Can you post the path report? There might be a word or two which has subtle significance.
Your second paragraph introduces a thinking approach which you should be sure you would want to go into. I myself would want to, but a person should be sure.
Overall you have reason to be happy, of course.
Your second paragraph introduces a thinking approach which you should be sure you would want to go into. I myself would want to, but a person should be sure.
Overall you have reason to be happy, of course.
Hi, so I have my results back. The doctor said it's reactive but they can't really tell why. In some aspects it is similar to toxoplasmosis but that was negative in my blood... Weird. Sure, I'm happy about the result but no closer to the answer of what is wrong with me.
I hope that the pathologist was skilled enough to read the sample right... And out of curiosity, if the biggest node was OK, is there a probability that the problem is in another node and they therefore didn't removed the right one? I know, I'm paranoid... But... I just wonder if I can be fine and just live with two other swollen glands because if there would be something wrong with the one they took, it would probably be in all of them...
right?
I hope that the pathologist was skilled enough to read the sample right... And out of curiosity, if the biggest node was OK, is there a probability that the problem is in another node and they therefore didn't removed the right one? I know, I'm paranoid... But... I just wonder if I can be fine and just live with two other swollen glands because if there would be something wrong with the one they took, it would probably be in all of them...
right?
COMMUNITY LEADER
Hello to Czech Republic! :)
"lymphoma nodes or generally cancerous nodes are more round"
yes, because reactive nodes keep their bean shape even as they grow from being reactive. But submandibular nodes start out being more round.
A cancer will grow right through the containing capsule in all directions, and so not have any border anymore. They also tend to get immovable because they grow into underlying tissue.
"rubbery"
I guess that's difficult to know without experience. But "rock hard" from metastasis would be easy to detect.
But then, a very very inflamed node can (bery rarely) get calcified and still be non-cancerous.
"Yesterday I got some kind of gastroenteritis so at least I have other things to think about :-) "
Actually, the more immune reactions you have, the more that tends to your having reactive nodes. So that's good, in a way.
I am not a doctor, no. My father had lymphoma and I learned more than a little because of taking care of him. One day, I decided to stop in here and see if I could help by answering a few questions. That was over six years ago.
Yes, it would be very nice if everybody were to post their end results. It's kind of suspenseful now waiting for yours :) I think you will have good news.
"lymphoma nodes or generally cancerous nodes are more round"
yes, because reactive nodes keep their bean shape even as they grow from being reactive. But submandibular nodes start out being more round.
A cancer will grow right through the containing capsule in all directions, and so not have any border anymore. They also tend to get immovable because they grow into underlying tissue.
"rubbery"
I guess that's difficult to know without experience. But "rock hard" from metastasis would be easy to detect.
But then, a very very inflamed node can (bery rarely) get calcified and still be non-cancerous.
"Yesterday I got some kind of gastroenteritis so at least I have other things to think about :-) "
Actually, the more immune reactions you have, the more that tends to your having reactive nodes. So that's good, in a way.
I am not a doctor, no. My father had lymphoma and I learned more than a little because of taking care of him. One day, I decided to stop in here and see if I could help by answering a few questions. That was over six years ago.
Yes, it would be very nice if everybody were to post their end results. It's kind of suspenseful now waiting for yours :) I think you will have good news.
Hi, well, I'm curious and really scared what is going to pop up from all this...
If I get it right, lymphoma nodes or generally cancerous nodes are more round than being lets say 3:1?
I'm from Czech rep., so when I read about the descriptions I don't know what it means that the node feels "rubbery" - is it like...hard as a rubber or is it a kind of surface as a rubber? :-D I really don't know.
Yesterday I got some kind of gastroenteritis so at least I have other things to think about :-)
You seem very skilled in this, are you a doc, or just an enthusiast? It's cool to talk about it with someone who clearly can keep his mind calm and be rational, especially with others. I can see the number of posts here, sadly most of them are missing some ending, info about biopsy results etc. :-(
Take care!
If I get it right, lymphoma nodes or generally cancerous nodes are more round than being lets say 3:1?
I'm from Czech rep., so when I read about the descriptions I don't know what it means that the node feels "rubbery" - is it like...hard as a rubber or is it a kind of surface as a rubber? :-D I really don't know.
Yesterday I got some kind of gastroenteritis so at least I have other things to think about :-)
You seem very skilled in this, are you a doc, or just an enthusiast? It's cool to talk about it with someone who clearly can keep his mind calm and be rational, especially with others. I can see the number of posts here, sadly most of them are missing some ending, info about biopsy results etc. :-(
Take care!
COMMUNITY LEADER
I'm glad to be of help.
You know your stuff very well and what you are doing is exactly right. You seem to have some mystery condition that needs identifying. You're not being paranoid and there's no reason to talk about being ashamed.
Usually, you'd think of a node that stays enlarged for a long time as being fibrotic (internally scarred). But that's not consistent with the way it went down in size from the abx, and then enlarged again after the abx. It's as if the abx suppressed some infection inside the node, which then came back again.
Maybe that infection (bacteria or parasite?) is now what makes up the golf ball sized lump. Just guessing. You might in the future ask for that same abx again to see what happens. Some abx affect some parasites. I don't know which.
Then again, some abx are anti-inflammatory so maybe that's why it reduced the size temporarily.
You know your stuff very well and what you are doing is exactly right. You seem to have some mystery condition that needs identifying. You're not being paranoid and there's no reason to talk about being ashamed.
Usually, you'd think of a node that stays enlarged for a long time as being fibrotic (internally scarred). But that's not consistent with the way it went down in size from the abx, and then enlarged again after the abx. It's as if the abx suppressed some infection inside the node, which then came back again.
Maybe that infection (bacteria or parasite?) is now what makes up the golf ball sized lump. Just guessing. You might in the future ask for that same abx again to see what happens. Some abx affect some parasites. I don't know which.
Then again, some abx are anti-inflammatory so maybe that's why it reduced the size temporarily.
I'm not sure how long did it take for the node to grow. I had it since childhood (my pediatrician found it when I was like 12) but it was 1 cm max but always palpable and I don't remember that it would react to some infection (I'm 20 now)... I don't really touch or test my lymph nodes when I'm sick. But this time I found three. The old and biggest one was in the middle, with one above it and one beneath.
It was surely bigger that before and reacted weirdly to one kind of antibiotics. It decreased in size a bit (about 0.5 cm) and two days after I finished the therapy It became big agian, maybe slightly bigger than before. The two other nodes didn't change...
I've never been the type who is constantly worried about something or googling everything... Maybe because the cold is the only thing I usually get but now. I'm ashamed.
Thanks for the support, it's really helping me to have someone to talk about it.
It was surely bigger that before and reacted weirdly to one kind of antibiotics. It decreased in size a bit (about 0.5 cm) and two days after I finished the therapy It became big agian, maybe slightly bigger than before. The two other nodes didn't change...
I've never been the type who is constantly worried about something or googling everything... Maybe because the cold is the only thing I usually get but now. I'm ashamed.
Thanks for the support, it's really helping me to have someone to talk about it.
COMMUNITY LEADER
Since the enclosing "capsule" was intact and looked okay even though the node was unusually large, that tends toward not-cancer. That is reinforced since the sono looked benign and the internal architecture was not effaced.
The biopsy might possibly find that the node is filled with granulomas, an immune reaction wherein macrophages surround and wall off an infection that it can't kill.
I don't know how a lymphocoele should feel, sorry. I also can't guess what would grow to that size in only one week. The only possibility I can think of is fluid accumulation, from a leak or maybe from inflammatory edema somehow.
Did the node which is now removed grow that quickly?
The biopsy might possibly find that the node is filled with granulomas, an immune reaction wherein macrophages surround and wall off an infection that it can't kill.
I don't know how a lymphocoele should feel, sorry. I also can't guess what would grow to that size in only one week. The only possibility I can think of is fluid accumulation, from a leak or maybe from inflammatory edema somehow.
Did the node which is now removed grow that quickly?
Hi, thanks a lot for your reply!
Yes, I had an ultrasound of my nodes, in the beginning and the doctor said that to her they are benign-looking but back then, the size of the biggest one was 2,5*0,7 cm...Maybe it was somehow hidden because before the surgery I tried to measure it and 2,5 cm seemed to be the lenght. I don't know.
I saw the surgeon and asked him about the knot and he said that he doesn't know what it is. He said that he had done his work and now he only have keep an eye on how the incision is healing. Also, he ruled out hematoma and since there was a drain and nothing leaked out two days afrer the surgery, he removed it. He said it could be the scar tissue forming back to normal or, please no, a lymph node. What's baffling is that it's at the exact same place as the node was and the structure is very lymph node-like but I saw the node he took out during the surgery... If it was a collection of lymph fluid, wouldn't it be soft and non-tender? This is rather firm...
Anyway thanks again for the reply.
Yes, I had an ultrasound of my nodes, in the beginning and the doctor said that to her they are benign-looking but back then, the size of the biggest one was 2,5*0,7 cm...Maybe it was somehow hidden because before the surgery I tried to measure it and 2,5 cm seemed to be the lenght. I don't know.
I saw the surgeon and asked him about the knot and he said that he doesn't know what it is. He said that he had done his work and now he only have keep an eye on how the incision is healing. Also, he ruled out hematoma and since there was a drain and nothing leaked out two days afrer the surgery, he removed it. He said it could be the scar tissue forming back to normal or, please no, a lymph node. What's baffling is that it's at the exact same place as the node was and the structure is very lymph node-like but I saw the node he took out during the surgery... If it was a collection of lymph fluid, wouldn't it be soft and non-tender? This is rather firm...
Anyway thanks again for the reply.
COMMUNITY LEADER
"need stories about benign big lymph nodes..."
Hi, as you might know, everything before the biopsy involves probabilities.
- the shape seems normal, in width x length
- "a weird neck infection before this" yes, that gives a possible alternative cause, *especially* if you have a highly reactive immune system
That would bring up the possibility of a (rare) inflammatory pseudotumor. Maybe.
"Also, I've noticed a golf ball sized lump/knot right under my incision... "
Probably a trapped collection of lymphatic fluid, a lymphocoele, since it popped up so quickly. The fluid could have leaked from the vessel where the node was cut out.
Maybe you can get your surgeon to see you quickly to drain it. You definitely should call and tell the surgeon about it, they need to know about it. Then you might get quicker feedback on the biopsy results, too, since you'll be there in the office.
The surgeon can also have formed an opinion on what was happening with that node from just looking at it when he took it out. E.g., cancerous nodes are very ugly.
That is, if it is a node. Was an ultrasound of the bump done before the biopsy?
Hi, as you might know, everything before the biopsy involves probabilities.
- the shape seems normal, in width x length
- "a weird neck infection before this" yes, that gives a possible alternative cause, *especially* if you have a highly reactive immune system
That would bring up the possibility of a (rare) inflammatory pseudotumor. Maybe.
"Also, I've noticed a golf ball sized lump/knot right under my incision... "
Probably a trapped collection of lymphatic fluid, a lymphocoele, since it popped up so quickly. The fluid could have leaked from the vessel where the node was cut out.
Maybe you can get your surgeon to see you quickly to drain it. You definitely should call and tell the surgeon about it, they need to know about it. Then you might get quicker feedback on the biopsy results, too, since you'll be there in the office.
The surgeon can also have formed an opinion on what was happening with that node from just looking at it when he took it out. E.g., cancerous nodes are very ugly.
That is, if it is a node. Was an ultrasound of the bump done before the biopsy?
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