Nomad

I'm going to repeat my prior advice to you: ask for a CT scan of your head & neck. Your ear pain should be enough medical justification after your clean exam by an ENT for insurance to cover it. Although if none of your lymph nodes in your neck have blown up or gotten larger, it's unlikely. My only symptom was unrelenting ear pain for a year, and even then I had to insist on a CT scan which did discover the tumor. In your case, the CT will probably be perfectly clear so then you can quit worrying. No amount of soothing answers here is going to work to calm you down for all the reasons you listed in your original posts. Once the CT shows you do not have cancer, then you can focus on fixing these symptoms. What price is peace of mind?
Charm