trying not to freak myself out
so, last night my 8 yr old was standing in the kitchen when he turned to the right and saw this lump on the left side of his neck. i immediately grabbed his head and tilted it to the side, you can feel this weird almost 3-4 cluster thing. so then i turned his head the other way, and he doesn't have one on the right side.
it's about the size of a quarter, maybe a little bigger. it's kinda semi-solidy/squishy. and you can slightly move it around. it's definitely not one big thing, but feels like a few smaller things all lumped together.
i went online to see if it's a lymph node or something, but couldn't find anything specifically, except of course cancer, fibrosarcoma of the neck to be exact is what kept coming up in google searches
i'm trying my best not to freak out. ever since my friends baby died of leukemia i tend to over react and immediately think cancer. :'(
i'm sitting here waiting for his dr's office to open so i can make an appt today.
Re: trying not to freak myself out
I'll say a prayer for you and your son. I hope the dr's appt goes ok.
Please let us know.
Re: trying not to freak myself out
Hi sweetie
It sounds very much like swollen lymph nodes (the lymph glands are CLUSTERS of cells) which is very common in children. I understand your panick and you will be in my thoughts. Please let us know what the doctor says.
Here are some links I found.
http://kidsgrowth.net/resources/advi...il.cfm?id=3339
http://www.emedicinehealth.com/swoll...article_em.htm
http://www.faqs.org/qa/qa-8263.html
Re: trying not to freak myself out
Eep! Well I hope everything is ok...you'll both be in my thoughts.
Re: trying not to freak myself out
i don't think it's lymphs though...when i say side of his neck..i really mean the very left side of this neck...well below his ear and no where near his throat...
you can even see it from the back if he's walking away from you...
plus he hasn't been sick in the least for probably a year at least, so there doesn't seem to be any infection to fight.
ugh...4 more minutes till the doc opens
Re: trying not to freak myself out
http://www.droid.cuhk.edu.hk/web/spe...d_and_neck.gif Here is a diagram of where the lymphs are located.
I hope the doctors see him straight away!
Re: trying not to freak myself out
that's exactly where two of my kids had swollen lymph nodes. and when i say swollen, i mean the size of a tennis ball! :O
my youngest still has a little extra bit of stretched skin on that side from 3-years ago. just an extra roll of fat as i jokingly tell her. :P
if your son was recently even slightly ill (e.g. small cold or sniffles or slight cough) it might just be the lymph nodes being infected as it "exits" the system. it was really serious with my son (ended up in the hosp on intravenous antibiotics, over 10-yrs ago not a related incident with my daughter) but that was only because he (his mother) didn't finish the oral antis as prescribed. >:(
it does look hella scary though, especially from a parental point-of-view. the doc should be able to tell from looking and feeling it if it's a lymph infection. it sounds like that to me. best wishes and hope it's just something simple like that.
Re: trying not to freak myself out
When I used to work at a daycare, theere was a kid who would get things like that all the time. His mom said his doc said it was "stress knots" (his parents were going through a divorce).
Re: trying not to freak myself out
If he feels fine otherwise, I wouldn't worry too much. He could have been attacked by a spider in the night or something. It is getting warmer out and the bugs are all starting to come out again.
I hope everything is fine. Let us know how it goes.
Re: trying not to freak myself out
My daughter once had swollen lymph nodes all over her head. It scared the piss out of me, but once I knew what it was I learned that we have lymph nodes all over our bodies that we aren't even aware of.
I had one removed once. It was on my upper inner thigh and the size of a large egg.:O
Re: trying not to freak myself out
I'll keep you and your family in my thoughts and will send good vibes your way.
Re: trying not to freak myself out
I agree, it sounds like lymph nodes. When I had mono, the lymph node below my ear on the side of my neck swelled up like a golf ball under the skin. I'm sending good thoughts your way. Everything will be fine.
Re: trying not to freak myself out
Is he ok? I hope he's alright and its nothing big. I had lump on the back of my head for awhile and would keep coming back up until I got a deep deep massage and it finally went away.
Re: trying not to freak myself out
Sassy,
I hope your son ends up being ok. About 8 years ago, I was far away from home during my first year of college. I felt something similar in my neck and freaked the hell out. The school nurse said it was likely an infection in my lymph nodes (especially when I mentioned that I had just gotten over five piercings in my left ear). Sometimes I still feel it, but it turned out to be nothing. Your son is most likely fine, but it's good to get it checked out, at least so your worries can be relieved. Again, good luck at the doctor.
Re: trying not to freak myself out
Sending good vibes your way. Let us know! :goodvibes
Re: trying not to freak myself out
thanks guys
i finally got a call back from the doc. they want me to watch it and see if it grows.
i seriously don't think i'd be so worried had he been sick or something...but he hasn't even had a cold in a LONG time! there's no scratches or bug bites on him that would make it swell. other than him being a total turd, he's been perfectly fine until this showed up last night.
it's a weird lump too. it's kind triangular shaped..not like a round ball....it's like flatish (is that a word! lol) it definitely feels "foreign".
i went to his school to talk to his teacher about something else and showed her and told her that the doc wants us to keep our eye on it and make sure it doesn't turn red or get any bigger...when i wen to the school to show her i got a better idea of how wide it was and it was a little over and inch and a half, possibly close to 2 inches in width. and you can even kinda "grab" it since it's just under his skin, right on top of his neck muscle...it feels yucky.
i've dealt with swollen nodes before, this isn't like that, unless it's a special node of some sort.
so if it just stays the same then we have an appt on friday to get it looked at.
Re: trying not to freak myself out
I hope your son is okay-I wonder if those things can be due to stress? I had exactly what you described about a month ago when I was really stressed out, and a couple days later I was much happier and it went away on its own. I think there are a lot of causes for those lumps and many of them are not serious. Best wishes to you guys! :goodvibes
Re: trying not to freak myself out
the soonest you could get in was friday?!
Re: trying not to freak myself out
this may or may not make you feel better, but i am going through this EXACT thing right now... i have lumps like behind my jaw on both sides, and ive got myself convinced of 3 things... mumps, mono or simply swollen lymph nodes... i was FREAKING out the first day, and have calmed own since... dont flip!!!!
Re: trying not to freak myself out
Makayla had this a few weeks ago. She wasn't feeling sick, but I noticed the swollen nodes. Turns out that this can be one of the first signs of strep...and you can deal with it sooner if you know what to look for.
Makayla didn't show the signs of strep (other than the swollen nodes) until a couple of days later. It wasn't until then that I realized why her nodes were swollen. Have you considered keeping him home for a few days, just in case (strep, as you know, is highly contagious...especially with kids). You can even call your doc and ask if they can just take a culture...
Hope he's doing better! Keep us updated!!
Re: trying not to freak myself out
i technically didnt finish posting yesterday, cuz my keyboard froze up after "flip" and i forgot to come back, lmao... I hope your son is doing okay and that its just a case of strep or a swollen node... something treatable, which im sure it is! good luck hun!!
Re: trying not to freak myself out
hey all
he's still not showing any signs of sickness..it's still swollen, but not getting bigger. so i guess it's a wait and see...at least until friday anyways
Re: trying not to freak myself out
is it possible its a fatty tumor ? ( meaning its not cancer etc. ) it happens a lot to kids . I had one as a child and it went away.
Re: trying not to freak myself out
My nephew had something like this on his thigh...it was from an injury (hard kick during soccer game.) The doctor removed it & everything's been fine since....
(Ahem) I'm embarrased to say this, but I got ringworm & a swollen lymph node behind my ear from letting my dog get up on the couch...Could it be that?