A Minor Scare

This morning I had to call one of my cancer doctors.  Over the past four or five days I have been having a fair amount of swelling and even felt a lump.  My head told me that I had nothing to worry about that it felt like a swollen lymph node or some other similar swollen tissue.  With the heat and activity I've had going on, a little edema would be normal in my body, and this is even more expected in the still healing post-op, post-radiation area of my body that was swollen.  Still, once you've received the worse case news when you aren't expecting it, you can't shake the feeling that it could happen again.  I gave it a couple of days to go away on its own (well the weekend since I couldn't do anything then anyway).  It didn't.  So Monday morning I called my breast surgeon (who I just saw last Tuesday) and left a message explaining what I was feeling and that although my gut said it was nothing, I was reaching crazy a little bit.  The office manager called me back almost immediately and set me up to come in later in the day.  My mom and Bella came with me for moral support, just in case the result was "let's biopsy to be sure its nothing".  Gratefully, not only was it "nothing" but we couldn't even find the lump (either one of us, and we really tried).  The swelling is still there, though down today.  Because I am at risk of lymphedema on that side of my body, I will go back to my doctor on Monday to confirm it is gone, or figure out what to do if not.  We also discussed what I might have felt, and she confirmed it was most likely a swollen lymphnode.  I hadn't trusted that primarily because of the location.  I've always had it in my brain that lymphnodes are in your armpit, but the truth is that they are really midway in your armpit and then they go out to your breastpit (yes I just made that up- you know, the little spot in the front of your body that is right next to your armpit).

Anyhow I admit to freaking out quite a bit, though did manage to keep it mostly in check.  Hopefully any time something like this comes up for me in the future, I'll be able to keep the fear in check.  This is all still new and it is easy to forget that.