last night i discovered a lump on my neck. i thought it was a knot so i started to massage it to bring blood to the area and relieve the tension. when it didn't go away i started to thing it was a swollen gland or lymph node. i googled pictures of "swollen lymph nodes" and my neck sorta looks like this. then i looked at medical websites for some explanation as to why i might have developed one.

since mine has grown rapidly over the past day or two, i should see a doctor immediately. in the mean time i should take ibuprofen or acetaminophen and use a warm compress. obviously, i knew that swollen glands mean that i'm fighting some infection but that's messed up because i feel fine. i had a scratchy throat the other day but thats it. i got my flu shot the other week though... maybe that has something to do with it.

they say that these things can be treated with antibiotics or if they are infected they may need to be cut open, drained and packed with gauze. the other shitty thing is that they can indicate hodgkin lymphoma which obviously sucks. my room mate is trying to keep me calm but it's hard to. especially when i can't actually see a doctor "immediately".

my family doctor had forbade me from visiting a clinic and has told me to only go to emergency rooms. i have too much class so waiting in emerg for 24 hours is out of the question. its just not happening. so im going to the clinic at my university and my doctor can deal with it. if i can't get it, then i will go home and visit emerg in my home town and wait half an hour to see a doc on the weekend. *posted by danes at 7:02 PM -