Just to TRY to answer some of your questions. My biopsy took more than a week. However, I had the unfortunate timeline of having the biopsy right before the Christmas holidays and they told me that the lab and quite a bit of the medical staff will probably be slowing down. Therefore, my waiting was several weeks.

As for the swelling. My lymph nodes seemingly swelled up overnight. In fact, I did not even notice that I had a swelling on my neck until my husband saw me bending over to clean a bathtub and noticed a lump on my neck. Of course, I immediately went into the local clinic to have it checked out. During the waiting time from biopsy to diagnosis, the lymph nodes continued to expand which was pretty scary.

I really didn't have any sort of pain to indicate that I had cancer at all. Just the swollen lymph nodes and a weird looking growth the local ENT spotted on my supraglottis that looked suspiciously like cancer to him.

I've also experienced bone shards coming through my gums. A year ago I had a molar that would once in a while make my face swell and come down with an infection. The dentist who must have been a bit over confident in his skills had to spend three hours removing it under local. In the end he had to crack some of the socket around it. Within a month I was back in his office and he was having to dig some of the splinters out of the gums that began poking through.

For your sake and my best guess is that you have something going on that isn't cancer. I'm crossing my fingers for you that it is only a minor problem and you will not have to join our ranks.

Jen