lumps on head

My mom was diagnosed with non-hodgkins Lymphoma, Berkitts about a year ago.  She has been on two different types of Chemo and a numerous amounts of meds.  She is on her, what we hope to be, last session of chemo now.  I am concerned with the lumps that have popped up on the top of her head, just in the course of 5-6 days.  They are about an inch in width and there are about 5.  (They almost look like the bump from the port she had put into her head.) Not sure if this is a side effect from one of the meds she's on but she hasn't had this happen at all in her course of her cancer/chemo. Please help.

[Ken_PA]

hi, The ultimate way to know what they are is to surgically remove one for biopsy. I'd guess the doc is thinking they don't *seem* to be cancer, because of what they look and feel like (e.g. regular shaped border and soft, etc).

My father developed such a bump on his temple after his first round of chemo for NHL. Every time I took him to an appointment, I brought up that bump. I had the idea that the chemo had suppressed the cancer elsewhere and as a result is popped up in that new place - that the sudden appearance was not just a coincidence. They always said it was not cancer.

Finally, it was biopsied and it was cancer -- a related but different kind. (It had transformed.)

So the look-and-feel analysis had been completely wrong.

If I were you, I wouldn't give up on pushing for a biopsy. If they won't do a surgical biopsy, then they can just use a needle to draw out samples at various places on the bump. That's called a Fine Needle Aspiration and can be done in a few minutes in a surgeon's office. That approach is known for false negatives, but in this case I'd guess that's less likely to occur.

Good luck, maybe it'll turn out to be benign and then that would give some peace of mind.

Could it be from some med? I guess that's always possible but there are no lymph nodes on the top of the head to react in some sensitivity. Plus, as you say, you'd expect that early on.

If they are merely filled with fluid, then I'd guess the surgeon would tell you that immediately - and you and her would be relieved.