I probably don't belong here, so I apologize in advance. I'm kinda just writing my thoughts down here because I haven't talked to anyone about this.
I'll try to keep it brief.
I am a 38 yr. old woman, 3 teenage kids, married. Fairly active in the four wheeling sports. I am of average weight and I have never smoked. I had a hysterectomy at 24 but still have my ovaries. I have had a nodule on my thyroid for several years now. Had it checked out, says it's a 'hot' nodule, get it checked again every 6 mos. *rolling eyes* ok, whatever. It was a pretty traumatic mental experience for me and I especially got freaked out when they did the fine needle biopsy on my throat. I didn't want to have that repeated every 6 months.

6 yrs. later, I am falling apart. I start getting hot flashes and night sweats. Now when I say night sweats, I don't mean every night. I'd say twice to 3 times a month. I generally don't feel good. I feel out of breath for no reason. I am so tired all the time that I don't even partake in my fav. hobbies anymore (no, I'm not depressed). so I go to the OBGYN to see if I am having menopause symptoms. Tests come back normal but suggests that I NEED to have my nodule looked at again. *sigh* ok.
In the meantime, I have been suffering from a chronic 'kink' in my neck for a good 6-8 months and am now getting pains in my shoulder and arm. I go to a chiropractor and have 3 treatments, third one left me in tears so I quit. I asked him when I was supposed to feel any kind of relief and he said that it should have been immediate for some relief. I felt worse every time. so I quit going. I made an appt. with an orthopaedic surgeon. He says I look to have OA in my neck and tendonitis in my shoulder. Okay. So he gives me 4 shots of cortizone (1 on either side of my neck, one on my rt. shoulder and one in my lft. rotator cuff)and sends me home. (I had NEVER experienced such pain as those shots!) 3 days later, I felt better, but I still can't turn my neck. This was in June. Last week I had him give me another shot in my lft. rotator cuff because the pain was back and is now radiating to my rt. side of my shoulder and down that arm. Let me explain this 'pain'. It is mostly an achy, weak feeling that gets tingly. My fingers will sometimes fall asleep. My muscles basically feel as though I have worked them out for hours, so they are tired and sore.
I finally decide it is time to get the thyroid nodule re checked out. I see an endocrinologist and she asks me all the questions. I had forgotten to mention that I have had an enlarged lymph node on my neck for several years now. It isn't a 'lump' it's more like a bulge on the rt. side of my neck. I have it slightly on my lft. side too. It is 'spongy' feeling if you will. So she asks me questions. yes, I get occasional night sweats, yes, I get headaches, yes, I've always got a bruise on me but don't know how. I am tired all the time. I feel like I have a collar around my neck ,slight choking feeling. (You know when you are about to cry and your throat starts to close up? that is the feeling I have.) My hair is thinning on one of my temples. I'm not balding, but it's much thinner. I get dizzy feeling kinda like vertigo. My biggest complaint is that I often can't find the correct words to express what I am trying to say. I draw a complete blank. Example; one day, I was desperately trying to say the word 'smoke' when I noticed a field fire nearby. I couldn't come up with the word 'smoke' after struggling for several seconds I instead came up with 'fire cloud'. So conversations will often become impromptu games of charades. Very frustrating. I have been having stomach issues now (I feel sick after I eat, I get stomach aches often and I have bowel problems).I have a few other issues, but I'm sure I'm getting long winded here. (sorry)
So my Dr. felt my neck, said that it feels like an enlarged lymph node, looked concerned which then got me concerned. She ordered a huge blood panel. I believe I donated about 7 vials of blood yesterday. I have an MRI with and without contrast for my neck scheduled on Tues. and then later next week I have an Ultrasound for my thyroid scheduled.
I never really worried about my enlarged lymph node in my neck and I don't know why. I have an extremely cancer prone family on my mothers side. My Grandmother had colon and pancreatic (still with us) My mother has lung, brain and breast(diag.at 39 still with us), her sister had the same thing (passed at 41) Uncle had bone cancer (passed). So here I am.
I haven't told my husband that I am getting checked for these things only because if it turns out to be nothing I don't want him to worry needlessly and I don't want to feel or sound stupid if it's nothing. I just really needed to get my thoughts and feelings down and when I looked up enlarged lymph nodes, I was brought here.
Thanks for reading. :)
Monica