painful lymph node under arm

[diana66]

At the end of April, I went to my GYN with worries about Inflammatory Breast Cancer.  I ended up getting breast ultrasounds and the doctor ruled out cancer.  At the same time, they checked my lymph nodes and felt no enlarged nodes.

Since then, I had one episode of a small enlarged lump near my right armpit.  It was red and very painful.  I made an appt to see a derm and although I had been obsessing about it for days, it disappeared the morning of my appointment.  I went to see him anyhow and he felt around for swollen nodes and didn't find any.  That was about 3 weeks ago.  In hindsight, I think it was an ingrown hair.

Now yesterday I have a new enlarged and painful node in a different spot under the same arm.  I am trying not to panic and go to the doctor because my husband and I have been fighting about all the money we owe for co-pays for several different tests I have had over the past 6 months.  I know I react too quickly and am trying to give it time, and wait to have the doctor see it.

Since January, I have had CBC run twice, liver enzyme tests, thyroid test, abdominal ultrasound, HYDA scan, and breast ultrasound.  Could this just be inflammation from shaving, or does an enlarged node usually mean something is wrong?  How long to wait before calling the doctor?

On yeah, the day before this swelled up, I had worked as a volunteer at a festival where I was serving drinks for 3 hours.  My hand got blisters and my wrist hurt - I know this was from overuse.  Could that type of overuse cause a lymph node to swell?