Specialists, for whatever reason, are notorious for being fully booked and hard to see.  That being said, you can understand why I didn’t see a specialist until March.  It was ok though; we had a revival at my church at the end of January, a full February, and an equally full March.  The meeting with the ENT took place right before Krystle and I went to California for spring break, and was both exciting and ominous.  I thought for sure that we might find some answers after meeting with the doctor, but when he expressed an interest in trying antibiotics to clear the “infection” that was the obvious root of my lymph problem, we promptly alerted him that such actions were already taken to no avail.  After the briefest, but altogether terrifying blank stare, the doctor indicated that the node could dissolve on its own. 

My wife, who is at this point about to burn the building down, indicated to the doctor that the proper course of action would be to get a CT scan or even a needle biopsy of the malfunctioning lymph node.  The doctor agreed that such action could be taken and the meetings were scheduled.  The scan was completed within the week.

When we returned to the doctor a few weeks later there was some interesting news.  The lymph node scan was a little out of position (apparently because I am taller than most people who are scanned and the scanned section included less of my jaw and more of my throat than expected) and revealed a tumor on my thyroid…

…not sure how to take this information we waited expectantly for some type of reassurance from the doctor…none followed.  Not sure how the lymph node and thyroid could be inflamed at the same time, our doctor asked for a consult with his partner.  Neither could explain the oddly occurring growths. 

The only thing that could be done to further the diagnostic understanding of my condition was an ultrasound-guided needle biopsy.  It was scheduled.