swollen lymph nodes (hard), painful breasts

[cindy939]

i have recently had a lot of sinus infections for which i was sent to an ENT. At the ENT i found out that my right maxillary sinus was extremely swollen and that my voice box was still swollen (3 years now, and i am a singer) and now has contact ulcers on it.
For the past year i have had swollen lymph nodes in my neck, hard and only painful if i have an infection. and for the past 6 months my breasts are extremely painful for 3 out of every 4 week cycle. only settling when i menstrate. my doctor ran some tests last week and my white cell count is normal, so is everything else (blood sugar, hormones etc). i am still waiting on my thyriod results though. i am now at a loss and am barely making it through one night a week of singing let alone the 2 nights that i have to do. i am now starting to be really scared that i have a lot of signs of cancer except for the white cell count. any help would be greatly appreciated.
thankyou

[Dnmh]

One thing to remember, cancerous lymph nodes ususally are NOT painful. Have they done any imaging studies of your neck? What thyroid tests did they run? Have you consulted with a gyno about the painful breast tissue?

[cindy939]

hi,
my lymph nodes are only painful when my sinus's are infected. they haven't done any imaging of my neck as yet or been to the gyno, as i have only just spoken with the dr about it last week. i have felt like i have been going crazy as i have had one thing after another and i am only in my early 30's, so i was too embarrassed to go the dr yet again. (not long been through CIN3 and LLETZ proceedure, hurt my back and then all the sinus infections).
the thyroid tests i am awaiting is TSH and T3 and T4. i am losing my voice and it is now extremely low and raspy, so i am really keeping my fingers crossed for thyroid as the ENT gave me  a cancer "chat". i go back to see him in a couple of months and then take it from there.

[Dnmh]

They should have run Free T3/T4. If there is concern about your thyroid, they should also do an ultrasound of your thyroid. It's said, that if you have to have cancer, thyroid cancer is the one you want. It's highly treatable. Also, other thyroid conditions can cause your symptoms.

My husband is a keyboardist/vocalist so I understand the concerns with your voice. Is there any chance you can take a break and rest your voice?

Never feel embarrassed about seeing the doctor. Only you know your body and know when something is wrong. Seeing a gyno about your sore breast tissue is not out of line, nor should you feel ashamed/embarrassed about it. And, if you don't get answers, get a second, third, even fourth opinion until you do.

[cindy939]

unfortunately no i am booked solid well into next year, min of 2 nights a week. ENT told me that it was too late to take a break anyway:(, should have done so 3 years ago. My Dr left town a year ago and since then i have swapped surgeries and it is very uncomfortable having a new dr after having the same one since i was 18 and his uncle since birth. My Dr was very good and thorough and now i just can'r seem to find one that i trust. This Dr that i saw last week seems OK and he was concerned enough to run an entire physical and a few extra tests. i am currently waiting for him to call me now with the thyroid tests (fingers crossed they are in).
If the thyroid comes back normal i will be asking him to run the freeT3/T4 as i have since read a little bit about it. Thanks for your help. Will let you know when i hear from him.
Thanks again

[Dnmh]

You may also want to ask for thyroid antibodies.
Thanks for keeping me updated!
Wishing you well...

[cindy939]

finally went back to the drs today as i hadn't heard anything. thyroid tests were not run (fault of pathology). so we ran them again this morning. he ran a complete thyroid test. also he (a diff dr same surgery) doesn't believe it's my lymph nodes, he said it's a tumor on my carotid artery. so i am still patiently waiting. he said that the tumor is very rare and they are almost always benign.
going for u/s this week too.......
the name tumor is pretty scary but the fact that they are mostly benign is of comfort.
thanks again