I have Crohn's, and my GI doc felt an enlarged lymph node in my neck in mid-November. He wanted to watch and see if it got smaller or bigger. Had an upper endoscopy the following week for CD flare. A week after that, ended up in the hospital with extreme sore throat that made it difficult to breath and swallow. Had neck CT while inpatient. Results showed a heterogeneous soft tissue mass in left side, ranging from left piriform sinus to left oropharynx to left tonsillar fossa. Sz is 1.4 cm x 4 cm. Also multiple bilateral lymph nodes, to include a 1.5 cm node impacting jugular and carotid. Stupid radiologist put one differential diagnosis: suspicious for carcinoma with mestasis. Sore throat resolved with IV antibiotics--possible post-EGD infection. Palpable right lymph node continues to grow and a second one popped up this past Saturday. ENT did a "quad scope" yesterday and now am waiting for biopsy results. Evidently both tonsils are large but one is particularly enlarged. ENT said he didn't see anything alarming but I did have quite a few areas of inflammation to go along with the enlarged tonsil. I found this site from Dr. Google. Not trying to dx myself, just want an idea of what I'll be facing if this turns out to be bad. Hoping it's an expansion of Crohn's into the oral cavity. Other than the sore throat and some swallowing issues, I'm asymptomatic. I'm also a little anxious and a lot afraid and am comforted by all the survivor stories here. I just can't really grasp the possibility I would have to do any kind of cancer treatment with an active Crohn's flare.

Welcome to OCF! I hope you do not have a need for our assistance. Only thru a biopsy will you know for certain weather whats going on is cancerous. Hopefully not!

If you would like to read about OC, here is a link to the main OCF pages where you can learn all about OC, diagnosis, treatments, etc.

OCF main site, OC diagnosis

Try to keep yourself busy to help pass the time while waiting for the test results. Too often we jump to the wrong conclusion that whatever is going on is bad which only causes unneeded extra stress.

Stay positive and keep us posted.


PS... You probably already know this but, Dr Google isnt the best place for help online. Put in enough details and it will tell you anything, most of it untrue.

Thanks for the welcome. No fear in using Dr. Google for anything other than to look up types of oral cancer my ENT felt were in the realm of possibility. He gave me names. I did the research from the OCF main page. The way I look at it is if I have cancer, I'm already plugged into a significant resource. If I don't, then I've leaned some things about oral cancer and healthcare in general. It's also very inspirational to read posts and stories from folks lifting up others in their individual battles. I truly hope I don't have need for the information here.