worry about my glands

[chung]

I have had swollen lymph nodes for a month now. At first, I tried to calm myself down and was less worried because I have read that they can take 2-3 weeks to go down. But I have all the sign which point to cancer. The supraclavicular ones are swollen. They are all pretty painful and the pain hasnt gone. There is no sign of infection I can see. And its now lasted 1 month. There is no change in the nodes.

I have been to the doctor and spoken to them many times and at first they said do nothing but wait. Now I have been asked to go to ENT and more tests will obviously need to be done in order to try to find out the cause. But the problem is, there is still a 2 week wait and I also dont want to go through with the tests. I am actually concerned that it is throat cancer which has spread to the nodes.

If the nodes would go down, that would really reassure me and make the whole situation less urgent and serious. But I wake up everyday and there is no sign of improvement.

I also have other worries which only make things worse.

[Skkyee]

I've just had a consultation with my nurse practitioner today who said my glands were up in the left side of my neck... No other symptoms....Then she took blood. Then I went home and googled it... Why would I do that???? :-(

[Rennie1989]

You're in a catch 22, you say you don't want tests but you're scared that you have cancer. Firstly, a long wait suggests that the doctor isn't worries and secondly the tests will confirm all.

[chung]

The long wait is what you get on the NHS. Surely you know this. It doesn't matter even if you had cancer, the NHS is slow when it comes to treating people.

[nomorepanic]

Not always Chung