Biopsy
So last month (April) I was having severe neck pain on the left side of my neck. I did not have a sore throat and it did not hurt much to move my neck, but if I touch the left side of my neck or pressed on it there was pretty severe pain. So I called my regular Doctor (Dr. Swanger) and asked if they could see me. They got me in that day and checked out my neck. They ordered two tests. The first was a complete CT Scan of my Neck, Chest, Abdomen, and Pelvis. The second was an ultrasound of the arteries in my neck.
The tests turned up nothing in my neck, BUT it did show an enlarged lymph node in my left armpit. We have known about this lymph node since October, but it only measured 1cm x .6cm then. We were not worried about it because it was so small. At the time of the CT Scan the lymph node had grown to 1cm x 1.2cm. This was still nothing to worry about I was told. A week later I had my 6 month checkup with my Radiation Oncologist (Dr. Constine). He was performing all the usual pokes and prods and stopped when he felt my armpit. He asked, “Did you feel that?”. I said, “Yes, I felt that.” He left the room briefly to make a phone call and then came back. He said he just spoke with my primary Oncologist (Dr. Freidberg) and they decided that they should biopsy the node. My guess is that they should not have been able to feel that node and it had grown since the previous week.
Dr. Salloum performed the biopsy. He is the same surgeon that did the biopsy in my neck two years ago. The biopsy went well and he even let my wife take a couple photos of the node after he removed it.
We should get the results back on Tuesday (5/22). Hopefully it turns out to be nothing. 
Photos are included after the Read More link …
This is a photo of my incision after it was sutured up. It is a little shorter in length than my index finger.
This is a photo of the node that was removed. I am thinking that is a lot larger than what was shown on the CT Scan a week prior.
