Diagnosis

I try to be fit and healthy.  I used to go to the gym most days, and more recently have switched to running a few times a week.  I'm not a smoker, nor do I drink too much.

Just before Christmas 2012 I went to the doctors about stomach pains, which both he and I think are IBS.  I also mentioned as an aside that I had recently noticed a node in my neck that was swollen, and had been for a good few weeks.  The doctor was most concerned about the swollen lymph node, so he sent me to the ENT clinic at Addenbrookes in Cambridge, who examined me and then scheduled me for a biopsy.

The results didn't come back until the New Year, but it turned out there were squamous cells in the lymph node, which they told me would have come from somewhere in the mouth or throat. An exam let to a CT scan and a PET scan, which are similar experiences and not particularly stressful. The scans came back indicating there was probably something in the left tonsil, but nothing big enough to be picked up anywhere else.

All very upsetting of course but the consultant was confident that with surgery and treatment I should be fine.

So, on to treatment...