Swollen Occipital Node

Hi, and thank you for taking the time for to review my questions. I am a 44 year old woman recently diagnosed with diverticulitis and put on cipro/flagyl for 10 days.  I was given both a ct scan and abdominal  xrays while in the ER for diverticulitis, both tests they did did not show any para aortic, or pelvic lymphedema. However, I just noticed that I have a swollen occipital node, it is non-tender about 1.5 cm in size and somewhat firm, it doesnt seem to move around much either. I have not recently been sick with cold etc...

I also  had a complete cbc that only showed eleved neutrophils and lowered lymphocytes which the dr said was indicitive of the diverticulitis infection. I have no other symptoms, no fatigue, night sweats, weight loss, fever etc. I dont notice any other swollen lymph nodes....

How concerned should I be about the possibility of lymphoma ?

Thanks for your time!

[Ken_PA]

How concerned? A doc might suggest just seeing if it gets larger. Merely reactive nodes can only get so big. If it were to get quickly larger, that's be a big cause for concern. Also maybe if it were unusual in terms of shape, or even if it seems oddly divided.

However, it might not necessarily be a node, the other alternatives being a sebaceous cyst or a lipoma. If it were a node, then by its location it could react to infection in the scalp, or something like psoriasis. At 1.5 cm it could still be a reactive node.

If it is very slow growing, it could still be an indolent lymphoma like Follicular.