Still reading and following ... just been dealing with migraines!

Go ahead and keep your appointment, then let it rest. And don't poke at the sore area, as that WILL keep it inflamed. (I hate how that works against us!)

You know, I just re-read the part where you mentioned clicking ... I had the weirdest effect coming out of anesthesia from my recent hip surgery. When I swallowed, I'd hear this horrible click noise in my left ear ... that's not my cancer-affected side. I was also still on oxygen for some stupid reason, and they insisted it was just some reaction to the anesthesia, something about air pressure. I did NOT believe them, especially since I'd felt the pressure was too much going under ... I was sure they'd burst an ear drum or something, and I demanded a doctor to come look at it. The upshot was that they still insisted it was a pressure thing, and that I had some issues with ear wax. I do not get how that would work, and my right side (that is missing lymph nodes and should have more drainage issues) would have been the likelier candidate for such issues, and nothing they did made it feel better. I was highly annoyed.

Eventually they let me ditch the oxygen thingummy. And the noise went away. Somehow, the breathing air pressure really WAS messing with my ear ... not the way they thought, but definitely it was connected! Go figure. So if you're dealing with that when swallowing, even if your ears look fine, it definitely could be a pressure or allergy thing. I never would've believed it till that happened.

The stories you read here of missed diagnoses are really fairly rare in the big picture. You've got to keep in mind what a small subset of the population this forum is, and then what a smaller subset the missed diagnoses are. (And the subset of patients who find this site, and all that.) People share them because they aren't all that common, so it won't happen to others ... but that doesn't mean it will happen to you. No, I'm not a doctor. Just rooting for you. ((hugs))