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From: Dan
Date: 8/23/2006
Time: 11:01:55 AM
Remote Name: 151.101.7.35
After reading this board for so long, and seeing all the questions, I swore to myself that I'd post my findings after having my lump looked at. A little background first. About 4 or so years ago, I noticed a small lump on the right side of my neck, about an inch or two below my ear, along the major muscle. After a couple months, talked to my PCP about it, and they said it could be an infection, but to let them know if it stuck around. Well, I'm not the best at remembering to do stuff like that, so it took a couple years before bringing it back up. Wasn't overly worried about it. It feels like a finger poking back when I touch it. Hard, immobile, and it's been the same size since I found it. Well, I finally talked to the Dr. again, and then went to an ENT in May of 05. Mr. ENT1 made me get a CAT scan.. cool experience, bad bill;-) He said it was probably a calcified lymph node or gland. He didn't think it was cancer, but wanted to go digging to be sure. I didn't like that answer, so I decided to get a second opinion... following the same fashion, I dragged my feet and finally went and saw Mr. ENT2 last Friday. Mr. ENT2 said he didn't need the CAT scan results, although it was nice. Apparently it's a "mixed tumor" in my salivary gland. Big operation, I get to stay overnight in a hospital, and the fun begins at the end of Sept. Basically they're gonna remove the gland on the right side of my neck, or Bill.. as I named it:-) I won't know if Bill's benign or malignant until they take him out, and hopefully I'll be sleeping when that happens;-) From what I've read, this seems far from rare, so that's good, in a weird way.. and Mr. ENT2 did this operation a couple weeks ago, so that's more comforting. In summary... hard, immoble lump = tumor.. in my case. Don't panic, I'm not a Dr., ENT, or anything of the sort, just an average joe.. but, if you have a lump, the Dr. office is probably a better place to figure things out than a message board:) Although it is kinda nice to have an idea of possibilities, I guess.