How this all happened

OK.  So, now you all know that I have Hodgkins Lymphoma.  Now I will tell you how I got to this point.  In August, 2013 I felt a bump in my neck.  I instantly thought it was weird since I had never felt it before.  I remember wondering what the heck it was, then decided it would go away.  A week later it was still there.  Only now I could feel another one.  I was a little concerned but just assumed they were swollen lymph nodes and they would go away.  Because, they become enlarged when you are sick, right??  Only problem was I hadn't been sick or felt sick or anything.  I felt great.  I had an appointment with my OB/GYN the following week so I decided to just wait and tell her about them. 

August 27 I had my annual appointment with my OB.  I told her about the swollen nodes, she felt them, checked for sores or scratches on my arm and hand.  Found nothing.  She told me that the nodes were out of her realm of expertise and ordered some blood tests and told me to follow up with my family doctor.  Ok sounds great.  Except I didn't have a family doctor!!  I NEVER get sick!!  The only doctors I had were an Orthopedic Dr. and my OB.  That's it.  I hadn't had a family Dr. since I was 18.  So, I made an appointment with my husbands family doctor.  And I met with him a few days later.

I believe it was about two days later I met with the family doctor.  He felt the nodes, and by this point you could feel several of them in a chain.  They were larger than they were a few weeks prior.  He told me they were Supraclavicular lymph nodes and that it was a concern when these became enlarged.  Of course I already knew this because I had been utilizing Google for days and searching for an explanation.  From what Google had taught me, I had learned that these nodes could be enlarged for a couple of reasons.  Infection is the most common cause.  Other causes could be mono, HIV, Tuberculosis.  Or cancer.  But cancer was the least common reason.  I knew I didn't have an infection, or HIV, or TB.  That left cancer but there was no way I had that.  Not to my surprise, the doctor told me the same thing I had read online.  He told me all of my blood tests came back normal.  He ordered two more blood tests and started me on an anti-biotic to officially rule out an infection, even though we both knew I didn't have one.  Standard procedure in these situations.  So, he referred my to an Ear Nose and Throat doctor.  If the antibiotics helped and the nodes reduced in size, I didn't need to keep the appointment.  If nothing changed, I needed to go to the appointment.  The other two blood tests came back good as well.  So now I was left to take the meds and wait. 

Of course, nothing changed.  We all knew it wouldn't.  So, on October 21, 2013 I met with Dr. Wahle.  He is wonderful.  The result of that appointment was officially ruling out an infection as the cause and scheduling a biopsy and a CT Scan.  After discussing all my options and the process of each procedure, I chose to undergo a Fine Needle Biopsy.  Long story short, after consulting with my husband and a close friend, I called and scheduled and excisional biopsy.  And that's what happened next.

October 30 I underwent the surgery for the excisional biopsy.  I was terrified.  I mean, I had previously had two surgeries on my knee, but that was my knee.  The thought of having my neck cut on scared the crap out of me.  All I could think of was all the things that could go wrong, such as my jugular getting slashed.  It was kind of a big deal.  The surgery took an hour and all went well.  I went home and waited.  And on November 1, my waiting was over (refer to first post).