neck pain and swelling

I have swelling under my left ear that is very painful when touched.  My ears have a full feeling.  I had thyroid cancer last year and had the thyroid removed and did the radioactive treatment.  Could this be something related to the thyroid or that area?.  The type of cancer I had was called Hurthlel cell cancer.

[Vivek V Gurudutt, MD]

Many things can be causing your symptoms.  Anything from an outer ear infection, infected lymph node, temporal mandibular joint dysfunction, to a salivary gland infection.  It is possible to have involvement of lymph nodes with cancer, however, the use of radioactive iodine treatment can lead to problems with salivary glands.  I would get a full evaluation by your surgeon/ent.  Best wishes.