Golf ball sized lymph nodes

[Veronica]

I've been really worried about my mom the past few days, she hasn't been feeling well and the lymph nodes under her chin are as big as golf balls. She has been to the Dr., first they thought strep, then when the test came back negative they sent her for a CT scan and told her they thought the nodes seemed weird.

We all just thought infection because it came on all of a sudden and she had just spent days taking care of my Grandpa in the hospital, so who knows what she was exposed to there.

Having HA, I have of course worried about my own swollen lymph nodes, but I have never seen anyone with nodes this swollen and it is freaking me out.

Does lymphoma pop up this fast, overnight? Every where I've read it says sudden swelling equals infection and slower growing is bad. Her swelling happened within a few hours. What could cause this? I am freaking out.

[forestbythesealady]

What did the CT scan show? My dad's cancer/tumor on his neck showed up in the CT scan. So, if they didn't see any kind of cancer or tumor there, then what do they think it is?

When I had the mumps, my "glands" were very swelled up under my chin. This was almost 40 years ago. And, YES, being at the hospital can definitely expose you to many things.

[sixpack]

it does sound like an infection to me.

[chickenlips28]

Typically Lymphoma would not pop up that fast. It would grow over weeks/months, not balloon up to a golf ball size over night.

Also, from what I know of Lymphoma (a fear of mine) the nodes under the chin are not effected as much. It would be more likley along the side of the neck, and down near the collar bones.

[Veronica]

She still hasn't gotten the results of the CT yet. She is still sick. She's been on antibiotics for almost 10 days now and is not better. If it was infection it would have gotten better by now. I am so freaked out. She has an appt. with an ENT tomorrow.

Can cancer come on this fast? It is so weird. I have been trying to figure out what this is and when googling, I found pictures of something called Ludwig's Angina and that is what she looked like. The swelling has gone down some though. I can't believe that cancer would pop up overnight. It is so scary and I don't know what I am going to do. I was just getting back into life and getting on track from my breakdown a year and a half ago from my best friends death from cancer. I don't think I can do it again.

What is this? I just so want to find something that will explain it all and make it better. I don't want it to be tomorrow.

[olethros]

I knew a guy who got some kind of growth behind his ear ... it was under the skin and probably about the size of a golf ball if I remember correctly.  I don't know if it was a lymph node or what, but my point is that he was totally fine.  He just had to get it removed eventually, mostly I think for cosmetic purposes.  So, it definitely does not assure you that it's something serious, and I'd think that if it popped up so quickly, it's more likely an infection of some kind going on.

[Veronica]

My mom had her appt. with the ENT today and she has something called sialoadenitis. It is an infection of the salivary glands. She was given a much higher dose of antibiotics and will be fine.  I was so worried about oral cancer because she has been a long time smoker. Thankfully this brush with being sick has caused her to rethink smoking and she hasn't smoked in over a week. So after all this worry, maybe this was a blessing in disguise. Although all my googling of oral cancer has of course made me a bit worried about the frequent sore throats I've been having and the weird lump on my tongue:)

Anyway, thanks for all the replies!

[gridder]

That is SO great that she quit smoking!

I forgot about the salivary gland thing -- that's pretty common. My boyfriend in HS used to have one that got plugged and infected all the time.