My First Biopsy / March 1, 2017

March 1^st came and it was time to get my CT Scan. There would be a neck biopsy of the suspicious lymph nodes IF anything unusual showed up on the scan.  Kim came with me because she worries about everything and was convinced I had some disfiguring disease.  I kept trying to convince her that I have an infection and she needed to relax. 

I got called back to the CT Scan room and the tech gives me my instructions.  I then get an IV placed in my arm so they can inject contrast in my veins.  I lay perfectly still as the table I am lying on moves in and out of the machine.  After the scan is completed, I put my shirt back on and go sit in a little waiting room.  This shouldn’t take too long and then we can go get some lunch.  We are in Winter Park and I can hear Shake Shack calling my name.  If you haven’t been there, treat yourself it will be the one good thing that came out of reading this blog.

The tech comes into the little room and says she needs me to go into the procedure room so the doctor can perform a biopsy on my lymph node.  I questioned why that would be necessary and get the standard answer, “It is just to be safe”. 

I call Kim over and tell her what is going on.  She is now convinced my life is over, there would be no other reason to do this biopsy.  The doctor then calls us back into a little closet disguised as a procedure room.  I lie down on the bed and he starts looking all around my neck with an ultrasound machine.  He tells Kim that I have a half inch mass growing on my lymph node and he is going to do a Fine Needle Aspiration on the lymph node and grab a few cells.

This is where being the patient is different than being the caregiver.  She asks if it could be cancer, how fast is it growing, can it be treated?  I look over at him and ask, “Is this going to hurt”? Priorities!

After a little Novocain to numb the skin, I have a needle jammed into my neck.  The needle did not hurt too badly. The cramp in my neck muscle on the other hand, that sucked.  After he took his sample he politely said my ENT would be getting in touch with me in three to five days with the results.