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Lumps Behind Ear, Colon Issues

I am very worried, and would be grateful for any thoughts good or bad.

In late November, I felt a burning pain in my abdomen, which gradually moved downward to the left side.  After a very acidic bowel movement, the pain remained.  I went to the emergency room after a couple days, was admitted to the hospital, and was diagnosed with sigmoiditis with a perforation (lower left colon), which I was told sealed itself off.  I went home after a few days and was on Flagyl and Cipro for several more.  

Now when I eat, even if I feel very hungry at first, I will sometimes become full after eating fairly little.  And when I feel too full, I feel horrible and woozy.  At my follow up appointment, my gastroenterologist looked at my CT scan and said it looked like diverticulitis.  

I have had a 1 cm lump behind my right earlobe for several months at least.  A week ago, a second pea-sized lump swelled up right beneath the first one and my back and sides started itching in the shower.  However, I am not losing weight, I do not have night sweats, and I am not running a fever.

Does this look like lymphoma of the abdomen?  Or do you think the lumps and colon issues are unrelated?  I've also noticed that my right ear (with the lumps behind it) has not produced anywhere near as much earwax as my left ear lately.  Could there be some sort of clog that's leading to swollen lymph nodes?

I am seeing an ENT on Wednesday morning, and I will ask for a biopsy, but in the meantime I am very concerned.  Thanks so much for your help.
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Avatar universal
Thanks for your kind response.  The ENT felt the lumps and said they felt like cysts, rather than lymph nodes.  I mentioned that the second lump first felt like a pimple (painful, red and swollen), then the pain went away leaving a lump; she said that was very cyst-like.  She suspected I had a congenital tendency to develop cysts, hence why I had two.

She put me on a ten-day antibiotic course, to be followed by a CT scan.  She said that hopefully the lumps would shrink due to the antibiotics, but if not she would take a biopsy.  

This sounds better than the worst case scenario I envisioned, where swollen lymph nodes due to lymphoma obstructed my colon, caused the itching, and were now spreading across my neck.  Fingers crossed . . .
Helpful - 0
907672 tn?1381025723
Hello and welcome.  Well, if I remember correctly, diverticulitis is when food particles get stuck in tiny little pockets of the colon and cause an infection.  Possibly the nodes behind your ear are responding to the infection by swelling up.  I'm kind of reaching here, but that's all I can come up with.  Hopefully your ENT will be able to shed a little more light on the situation.

You can ask for a biopsy but most likely the doctor won't agree to it unless he feels there is a valid reason to think it might be cancer.  Possibly the itching would be enough reason as that is sometimes considered a symptom of lymphoma, but itching can indicate a lot of other things too.  Perhaps if they treat the diverticulitis first then the itching and lumps will go away on their own.  

Good luck and please keep us posted.  
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