I am very scared about a small lump in my neck/under my jaw. Let me start off by saying that I am a healthy (hopefully) 25 year old male. Really, the only thing wrong with me is that I have very bad premature tooth decay which Iave not adequately dealt with that began about 6 years ago.
Anyway, a while after having some extensive tooth work done about two years ago, I noticed that I had sore spot under my right jaw. When I felt the spot, I could feel a small (bean-sized) lump that was positioned in a hollow space next to the interior of my jaw. The lump seems round, firm (but not hard), and I can freely move it up the other (cheek side) of my jaw. You cannot feel it if I look straight ahead, but if I tilt my head, you can feel it and start moving it.
Knowing that that the same area on the left side got sore (although no lump) when I had molar problems, I assumed this lump was dental related and really did not worry about it.
During the intervening two years (during which I let my molar problems get worse) I would notice that the area would sometimes be sore when touched and sometimes would not be. I tried to not touch it too much, because the way I could move it up my jaw freaked me out. Still, I assumed it was infected tissue or something.
Then, recently, for whatever reason, I started playing with it again and became very nervous about it. I do not believe that it has become larger (and if it has, it has not enlarged much over two years), but now I have begun to wonder if it is cancer. In fact, I am at the point where I have convinced myself of that fact and I have become very depressed. I made an appointment with my GP for two weeks from now, but I would really apprecciate it if a Dr. on this board could give me their opinion. I have seen other postings on various med board where people have described the exact same movable lump (where it could be moved up the other side of the cheek), but the posters never posted their diagnosis.
Does this sound like a cancerous lesion? Could it be a cyst or long-infected tissue? I do not think it is a lymph node or a gland, as it is a round highly mobile mass. Please help!
PS
I am a hypochondriac with severe anxiety disorder, so this is basically driving me crazy. I go to the Dr. nearly montly to get various potential illnesses checked out and now Im kicking myself for never thinking to get this lump examined.
Before I reached the 'conclusion' that it is not a swollen lymph node, I had become concerned that it could be Hodgkins disease. This was aggravated by the fact that since I was 16 (9 years ago) I would sometimes get shoulder pain when drinking alcohol. As I did research on Hodgkins disease, I dicovered that such pain is sometimes a symptom of the disease. However, given that the lump does not seem to be a swollen node and that I have had such pain for a decade, I don't Hodkins is really a concern. Does anyone find fault in this logic?