I had this "knot" show up under my jaw line (below my ear)... and I thought my glands were swollen. I remember the day it happened and I went home and showed Steve. It was a good size knot. I kept thinking it would go away. It didn't hurt or anything, but it was annoying. Welp, it was there for 4 weeks so I decided to call my doctor and ask them if I should be seen or if they thought it was nothing to worry about. Of course they wanted to take a look at it.
So, I went to the doc on a Friday and he sent me to get an ultra sound and x-ray done to check form lymphoma. He didn't want to worry me because he didn't think it's what it was, but he wanted to rule it out officially!
On Sunday (Father's Day) I wake up and my voice is a little scratchy. It got worse as the day went on. On Monday-(very raspy voice)- I go get the ultra sound/x-ray done. Side note: The ultra sound was kinda funny because the girl doing the ultra sound had never done that "part of the body" before, so she didn't really know what looked "normal". So, she ended up doing it on her own neck so she could compare! Kinda funny I thought. So... all is done with all that.
That Wednesday I wasn't feeling well at all and by this time I couldn't talk at all!!! I "talked" (more like whispered) to the doc to get the results of the ultra sound/x-rays. No lymphoma. YAY! They said it was a liquid filled cyst around my lymph node. They wanted me to go see an ENT to get it checked out. So, he called an ENT and got me in to see him THAT DAY... actually... RIGHT AWAY! I hadn't had a shower or anything yet! I threw my contacts in, brushed my teeth, threw on some clothes, and rushed to the ENT!
The ENT asked me "what did I do to get on the Pony Express?" Apparently, there's quite a waiting list to get into an ENT. When I was in the waiting room I heard people calling in booking appointments for almost 2 months out (that was the earliest appt available!)... and I got in THAT DAY! Praise the Lord for that!
So, the ENT mashes around on my neck. He comes back w/ 2 needles and tells me he wants to do an FNA (Fine Needle Aspiration). I have no idea what this is, and needles don't usually bother me, so I was okay with whatever he was gonna do... until he did it! OUCH! He had told me he found 2 cysts... so he drained the first one- no problem. The second one, he tried to drain but it was a solid cyst and he couldn't drain... and that hurt like a dickens! It felt like he was poking a needle into my skull!!! He told me that day it looked like the liquid was partial "puss" (sorry if it's TMI) and thought it could be an infection. He sent it for a biopsy and put me on an antibiotic for an infection.
That day the cyst was completely gone. It came right back the next day and this time it hurts... "tender" is a better word... but remind you before it hadn't hurt or anything at all for the 4 weeks it was there. I started feeling sick too. I was just "yucky" feeling all over. I was lethargic, had no appetite, no voice... AT ALL, and couldn't sleep even though I was exhausted!
Steve came home from the store one night with these:
(my favorite flowers are Tulips... and I LOVE the TX Longhorns... so what did he get me... BURNT ORANGE TULIPS! How amazing is my husband??!!!!)
Anyways... I'll start wrapping this up a little bit. But first, I wanted to share with all of you what my voice sounded like for 11.5 days! (the video was made on the 8th day)
So... on the 11th day was my "follow-up" appt with the ENT from the first appt. All that time I had been feeling sick and had NO VOICE WHAT-SO-EVER! Welp, I woke up that morning and went to work... unable to talk. As the morning went on, my voice started to get a little "rasp" to it... so now it was "raspy" rather than a "whisper". I was so excited... kinda! Inside I was annoyed because I wanted the ENT to hear it and tell me why my voice was like that! So... I get to the doc that day and have a pretty solid "raspy" voice. I told him I hadn't had one until that afternoon. He wanted to check my vocal chords. Of course I was great with that because I was getting worried. Seeing as my favorite thing to do is sing... this started bothering me after so many days of having no voice.
I will not go into the details... oh wait... yes I will! The ENT tells me all nonchalantly... "I'm going to clean out your nose and then check your vocal chords". That didn't sound bad, so of course I say "okay"! He proceeds to lean my chair back, pull up my nostril with a poky thing, spray (continuously) something up my nostril that came down the back of my throat... and it went on, and on, and on, and on! I start to gag! He stops. He then sticks THE LONGEST piece of cotton I have ever seen up my nostril. He leaves the room... leaving me laying back w/ a giant cotton swab up my nose!
Ten minutes later he comes back and takes the cotton out. He pulls out a "device" that has a very long, rubber tube w/ a light at the tip of it. I'm thinking... hmm.... that better not be going where I think it's going!! Oh... it does! Straight up my nose and down the back of my throat! He tells me to say "Eeee".... I said "Eeee" which quickly turned into "Awwwwwoooooooooooouuuuuuuccccchhhh!!!!"... very loudly! He moves that tube around a bit and then pulls it out! Ummm, I NEVER want that again! Good news is that my vocal chords were undamaged! Praise the Lord!
Now, about the cyst... it's still there, non-malignant and also not an infection. He's not sure what is causing it. He put me on a steroid and another antibiotic. The cyst has shrunk quite a bit... but it's still there. I had bad neck pains as a side effect of the antibiotic, so he pulled me off of that. I go back to see him again on 7/14 to see what to do next about the cyst!
Anyway... just praying it goes away totally so I don't have to mess with it anymore. I am very blessed that it's a minor thing. I feel bad when I am facing something so small, not life-threatening, and painless when there are people out there with WAY bigger problems than this. I'm thankful to the Lord, but I feel bad at the same time.
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