Hi all,

Been a long time since I visited. Diagnosed with Oropharyngeal SCC back in 2013, had surgery, neck dissection, radiation & chemo. All has been fine with my checkups since. However now 7 years later and I've found a lump behind my jaw, under my ear. It's hard, fixed and non-tender and my ear feels slightly blocked (as long as I'm not imagining it). Reported it to my GP who sent me for an ultrasound which said it wasn't looking suspicious but didn't identify why there was a lump. I chose to go back to my original surgeon and have it checked out. He did another ultrasound and camera down my throat and also confirmed it didn't look suspicious on ultrasound but has sent me for a CT scan to confirm exactly what it is. He said it could just be the lateral process of my C2 vertebrae and noted this on the CT scan form "lateral process of C2?" and also "parotid?".

Has anyone known of a lump that turned out to be the C2 process?

Thanks for your advice,
Mel.

Hi Meli! I havent heard of the C2 reference but the lump is something that Ive seen happen before. I first noticed this with my adult son who has had this come and go a few times. His doc and the members here who had this have been all been told not to be concerned about it as its probably nothing serious, it could be a sign of an infection thats causing a lymph node to swell. My son is now 30 and first had this happen when he was about 17 or 18 years old. Its happened about 4 or 5 times since and always seemed to be an early warning sign of an upcoming major illness. Its always been a rare occurrence when my son gets sick, maybe once every few years. Hopefully what you have going on is also not anything serious!!!

Thanks Christine.

It's been there about 6 months now as I had the ultrasound in February, then Covid hit and I put it out of my mind until my ear started feeling blocked and I realised that whilst the ultrasound was clear I didn't get confirmation about why there was a lump.

I'll get the CT results this week and will update everyone (when it turns out to be an innocent lump) so it's recorded here.

Scan confirmed it was asymmetrical C2 spinous process plus scar tissue. No baddies, strange but great news.