[quote=Lee27]I am a five year survivor of stage IVa tonsil cancer. Two weeks ago i found a small lump in my armpit. Thought it would go away. It didn't. I checked the internet and it seems that swollen nodes that are hard and painless often indicate a malignancy. Can't get to my MD until monday and God knows when he can see me. Anyone familiar with this? Doesn't sound good to me. Lee27 [/quote]

Hi Lee27,

Back in July during a routine physical my doc visually noticed a swollen gland under my jaw (submandibular). I was aware of this gland as it had been growing larger for several years and was painless. Because it was painless I thought nothing of it. The doc felt otherwise and scheduled me for an ultrasound of the neck and the results of that were suspicious so I underwent an biopsy on Oct 1. The entire node was removed and sent to a regional cancer clinic for pathology. It came back negative for malignancy so a number of other tests were done due to the reactive nature of the node. In the end I have been diagnosed with nothing and a warning to get in to the doctor pronto if another gland exhibits similar behaviour. I was quite concerned during this whole exercise particularly in light of my risk factors so was quite relieved that nothing was found. So, I wouldn't worry until someone is able to tell you that you have cancer. Until then assume it's not. However, if you do engage in risk behaviour such as smoking now is a great time to drop the risk. I haven't had a smoke in over 2 months now and I had smoked pretty heavily for around 40 years.

Good luck to you.