Please help! Need info on surgery to remove bump behind ear?

[angelicwhispers]

Hi, I just read your post and I was wondering how you were doing and if everything is better now that your bump is gone. Did they actually tell you what it was. I have had a lump now for about 5 months. It started out small and became larger. It now goes back and forth small and large. I have had increasing headaches. I very rarely got headaches before this and I could take a few tylenol and it would leave. Now my headaches are like migranes and more frequent and the lump gets very large when I have a headache. I saw a ent and he says he has no idea what it is but suggests surgery to remove it. I am very scared cause if you don't know what it is why do you want to remove it. I had a hysterectomy when I was 26 and my ob screwed me up. I am so scared with this due to it is messing with my head. Did they have to shave any of your hair? I would greatly appreciate your response. Thanks. God Bless.

[HockeyCrystal]

Hey I'm sorry you've been going through what sounds like the same thing I did. It was an enlarged lymph node that they removed. And it wasn't a very painful surgery really.. I just had about a 2 inch incision. My ENT was the one who did the surgery.. And also, just so you know, things went great after healing and everything. However, now it seems the bump is back. But now they say it feels more boney than it was when it was a lymph node.. But its been giving me the same problems. So I've been meaning to get an appointment and go see my ENT again to see what he thinks about it. After he removed my lymph node, they did a biopsy, just to make sure it wasn't cancerous. Because before opting for surgery, he wanted me to try a couple rounds of antibiotics and steroids. However, they didn't seem to help.. In fact the steroids caused more problems, so my doctor and I decided it was just in the best interest of me, to go ahead and have it removed, so that I didn't have to go through the steroids which were just making me feel worse. I had the surgery May 20, 2003. The only real issue other than having a new bump in the same place now, was the healing process. Because of the incision, they had cut through nerves, which happens when any incision is made. Then when you are healing, your nerves try to grow back through the incision... It can cause some numbness and tingling and other such sensations...Sometimes even a little pain too.... But for me it got better.

If you have any more questions, feel free to reply to this post, because it alerts me through my e-mail when someone replies to the post... So let me know if you want to know anything else. I really hope I have helped to some extent! And if its the same thing I had, then you needn't worry, because it wasn't really that bad of a surgery.. At least it wasn't for me, and everything is different to everyone....So anyway, let me know if you need any more info or have any more questions!

Good luck!

Crystal (HockeyCrystal)

[smcleod]

I also have a bump behind my ear. It's been there for about 9 months now. When I first noticed, it was nothing more than just a bump behind my ear. About 3 months later, I was sitting at my computer and started have major dizzy spells along with head pressure mainly on the left side of my face (same side bump behind ear is located). Dizziness, head pressure, off-balance, numbness on left side of face, and occassional headaches are all symtoms I've been experiencing on and off (more on than off) since then. I've been to an ENT many times. I've had an MRI, ENG, blood tests,.... all came back normal. The ENT has had me on a diuretic for the past 2 months now, as well as a antihistamine (Allegra).... it's not really having a big improvement on my overall situation. I still get the same symptoms which seem to worsen whenever I'm doing a detail-sensitive task. Also, when symptoms are worse the bump seems to be larger, and smaller when symptoms are neraly gone.... The bump has never fully went away,... and I too have been told it's a swollen lymph-node. I'm going to ask my ENT if removing it will rid me of these VERY annoying symptoms, because as yet, he hasn't indicated that the bump is or could be the problem.

Sorry to hear that your bump is back!

[HockeyCrystal]

Yeah, I had pretty rough symptoms from mine too. I had headaches and dizziness too... I hope your doctor can help you and hopefully your symptoms will disintegrate as well. Keep me updated on how you're doing! I still haven't made another appointment with my ENT to see if I need to have another surgery or not... I hope you feel better soon!

HockeyCrystal

[smcleod]

Well.... went to my ENT yesterday. He's sending me in for a Needle Biopsy of the bump to find out exactly what it is, and treat it accordingly. Will let you know what I find out from it. They should schedule it sometime today, so hopefully should have results next week sometime.