liz has this one nailed.... parotid gland - one on each side, upper cheek right across from the bottom of most people's ear, the largest of the salivary glands, and something you can externally biopsy with a needle, though it is so big someone would have to have a good idea (from a scan) where they thought they were going to do a fine needle biopsy. And it sounds like an artery, the carotid in your neck. Involvement of the parotid often manifests itself as referred ear pain.