The diary

Week 5 – Time for PET/CT scan

  • Pain                    None
  • Mood                 5/10
  • Energy               Usual

The PET/CT scan in many ways resembles the MR scan, however there are noticable differences:

  • The duration of the scan is much shorter,about 15 minutes
  • The PET/CT scanner is not noisy
  • You are not confined at all sides in the PET/CT scanner

So the scan itself is much more pleasant than the MR scan. The preparation time however before this scanning is much more lengthy, first you must not eat before at the scanning day.

First you will be receive a IV radioactive tracer, and then you need to relax for about 60 minutes, before you will be taken to the scanner.

Before the scan begins, you will be receive IV contrast.

However one word of advice!, the IV contrast is not the same as the one used in the MR scanner. It has a very unpleasant effect, where you will feel your body and head is getting warm from the inside, it is not painful and only last two minutes, but i got quite a nasty surprise, despite the operators had warned me.

Week 4 – No conclusions – New appointment and further examination at Hospital

  • Pain                    None
  • Mood                 6/10
  • Energy               Usual

I was waiting very impatiently for the MR results and the biopsy, but they were neither bad or good, merely inconclusive, which might be even bad in some ways as it meant more examinations and biopsies.
The MR scan did not show anything off the ordinary, but the biopsy had not enough cell-material to determine anything.

A new biopsy was made and i was given an appointment for a CT/PET scan. in order to exclude any chance of cancer or similar serious diseases.

The procedures with an infected lymph is more complex than i thought, since the examination are primarily used reversely in order to exclude other diseases, it is apparently not easy to diagnose a swollen lymph.

Week 3 – Time for MR scan

  • Pain                    None
  • Mood                 6/10
  • Energy               Usual

This was my first visit in a MR scanner, in short words,it is painless but very boring, i do not suffer from claustrophobia, but it might be a problem for those a you are confined by the scanner.

Before scanning, you will be injected with contrast fluid, it does not affect you besides you might feel a small taste of salt. Then you will be giving protective head wear and you will be moved into the center of the MR scanner.

The machine is very noisy,like hammers banging on a wall, your head wear will completely protect your ears, but it still feels like being on a construction site. And then you just need to lie completely still for 45 minutes, thats it!

Week 2 – First appointment and examinations at hospital

  • Pain None
  • Mood 6/10
  • Energy Usual

I waited a few weeks until i went to the doctor, the swelling was neither growing nor reducing and i felt no pain.

As soon as my doctor saw me, she was not able to determine what it was and send me acute to a ear nose and throat doctor. The doctor could neither determine what caused the swelling and send me acute to the Ear, Nose & Throat department at my nearest Hospital. For each stage i became more worried.

I went with my wife to the Hospital and I was examined by endoscopy, – in the next months a lot more would follow –  the doctors could not determine what caused the swelling, but they did not see any abnormalities and ruled out cancer (which they did until surgery…) -either it was probably a congenital cyst or a lump infection.

A biopsy of the fluid in the lump was taken for examination and I was prescribed antibiotics and told to return next week if nothing had changed. 

Week 1 – Whats that lump on my neck?

Christmas was closing in, i still needed to buy a lot of presents and work is very busy, i sat at my two-screen desktop and suddenly wonders why my natural head position was a little to the right.

I felt it at my left side of the neck, – a painless but very noticeable swelling under my jaw. I did not feel sick at all, so what what was it? …