Praising God

About six or so years ago, I was rubbing my neck and jaw area (I get stressed a lot) and found this random lump. Naturally, being the anxious paranoid type, my heart did a loop or two around my stomach and I freaked out. I went to the doctor and he said, "Meh. It's probably just a lymph node that needs a round of antibiotics." One round of meds later and it was still there and unchanged. A few years later, I had my chiropractor brother-in-law check it when he gave me a physical and he said it was a lipoma (which is medical jargon for benign fatty tumor). I laid the whole lump thing to rest and tried to pay it no mind. Occasionally I would feel it and wonder if I should have it rechecked.

Fast-forward up to last November. Evie, being the psychotic monkey she is, decided to leap off of the arm of the couch onto my head. She landed directly on that pesky lump and I swore I felt something tear. It hurt pretty bad, to say the least. It kept hurting and after two weeks of said pain, I decided to go get it checked in case something tore loose. The doc said, "Meh. Probably just a lymph node that got injured. Let's get you to an ENT (ear, nose, throat doc) and get it taken out if need be." They did blood tests which all came back fine and then ordered a CT scan of my neck so the ENT would have some info to go on. This is where things went from pesky lump to AHHHHHH!!! The nurse called and told me it was a growth off of my parotid gland (salivary gland). My brain went from worried to crazy in zero to sixty seconds. Yeah. I was certain it was cancer. That's how my brain functions. (I blame my dad. He was the same way.)

This all started escalating during the Christmas break. Naturally, this made my break very scattered and full of emotion. I ended up getting a biopsy from my ENT. For those who have never had a biopsy done, it was basically being punched in the face with a needle. Twice. It hurt - very bad. The biopsy came back inconclusive and I had to wait and get another one that was ultrasound guided. That was last week. Now, between all this, the amazing ENT that I went to basically told me that I was crazy to think this could be anything dangerous - especially because I'd had it for so long and it was so small. He said he'd take every penny he'd earned and would earn in the future to Vegas and bet that I was 100% fine and not be worried at all that he'd lose the money. Amazing doc, by the way. Turns out that Josh installed a water heater for him. Small world! Well, I went back to him and he really convinced me that the biopsy was for a final diagnosis and that he didn't think I needed it but we should do it for peace of mind anyways. I had the second biopsy done last week and it was...well...horrible. Never want to do that again. Ever.

So today I got the call from the nurse and she told me the best words I've heard in a very long time. The biopsy came back and it was "100% benign"! A crushing weight was suddenly lifted off of my chest...and neck...and mind...and I took a very deep breath. They got great samples and all of them came back great. I got off the phone and started praising God immediately. He sent me to the right doctor and I feel very blessed today. I'm trying very hard to get myself up and running again and this is the beginning. This week I'm scheduling an MRI for my knee (long story - but it's a torn meniscus) and plan on hitting the speed-walking hard by spring. Glory be to God because it's been a really great day!