Diagram of lymph nodes in dogs

HIV Rapid
Had a risky encounter July 31st, 2023, guy says he was on prep but im not sure.
I topped for like maybe 5-8 strokes and changed my mind because I already wasnt sure
Had shooting nerve pain in legs that i may have already been experiencing before. Diarrhea sometimes Also had a cold in december that was only a really bad sore throat Have a swollen lymph node under jaw but I read that that may be due to constantly checking for them
Took an HIV Insti Rapid Test in December (Approximately 5 months post potential exposre) Negative
Took another in January (6 months post potential exposure)
Took another in March (8 months post potential exposure)
Oraquick at 9 Months (Negative)
Should i stop testing? what is the likelihood of still being positive?

Had a risky encounter July 31st, 2023, guy says he was on prep but im not sure.
I topped for like maybe 5-8 strokes and changed my mind because I already wasnt sure
Had shooting nerve pain in legs that i may have already been experiencing before. Diarrhea sometimes Also had a cold in december that was only a really bad sore throat Have a swollen lymph node under jaw but I read that that may be due to constantly checking for them
Took an HIV Insti Rapid Test in December (Approximately 5 months post potential exposre) Negative
Took another in January (6 months post potential exposure)
Took another in March (8 months post potential exposure)
Oraquick at 9 Months (Negative)
Should i stop testing? what is the likelihood of still being positive?

Hello all, I am an otherwise very fit and healthy 53yo with a dilemma. I’m considering not doing chemo. My doc says he’s “soft” in recommending chemo because my oncotype score came in very low — 11! — BUT they found 7 positive, frayed lymph nodes (lymphovascular invasion, ECC, etc) when they did my BMX, which surprised everyone because my invasive tumor was only 1.4cm (though I had a lot of DCIS throughout). So on the one hand, my chance of recurrence is quite high (42% according to the Oncotype DX test because of the lymph nodes, and that’s with hormone therapy factored in!) but the chemo benefit is only about 5-7%. I’m so torn. Chemo seems like such hell, and my plastic surgeon said he didn’t think it was worth it — I’d still be looking over my should with a 35% recurrence risk — and that your body is never quite the same after chemo. Thoughts? Anyone with Stage 3 ever forgone chemo? TIA!

I was diagnosed stage 3 NSC Lung cancer almost four years ago (36 yo male). Family situation was/is My dad lives here in Ohio and so does my brother (34) . My sister (38) lives in Chicago. My mom lives in Florida it comes up here for the summers. I was always close with my family and coworkers before I was diagnosed. I had that overwhelming wave of support you get when everyone you know finds out your cancer. It was all phone calls, texts, and emails for the most part. My diagnosis wasn’t the best as the cancer had spread to my adrenal gland and lymph nodes. My dad really stepped up and he was my rock. I’m lucky I had him during that time. He drove me to chemo the first couple of treatments and sat in on the dr appointments as a second ear. I was going to be doing 5 rounds of chemo every three weeks and immunotherapy for 12. The chemo killed the tumor so they cut out the upper lobe of my right lung. Immunotherapy wasn’t great but I got through it.
I was incredibly happy that I survived it all and got back to work. However some things really bothered me such as my mom never came back home during my chemo. She came home for my lobectomy in November 2020 and visited me in the hospital and held my hand like I was her baby boy again when they removed all the breathing , catheters, and drainage tubes. When I got home I noticed phone calls and texts weren’t coming in. It also bothered me that my sister never came to see me and she’s about four hours away but not four days. My brother was in town and only came once during the year of treatment.
Another thing that bothered me is none of my coworkers would call or text during my time off. I really worried when I got a letter from my employer of ten years that I was terminated. It was a really tough time and I was on so much medication and my whole routine was sitting on the couch and watching YouTube. I slowly descended into a very dark place and became scared of going in public places because I thought people were staring at me because I looked so sickly and dying. My bank account was getting down to nothing and I asked for my old position back and luckily they hired me again. It was excruciatingly difficult physically and emotionally to sell cars that hot summer of 2021. I had heat stroke three months of being back and thought I was done. I was really sick and weak. I was miserable with so many things. When I did see my family I’m sure that attitude wore off and I soon was getting comments that I was too negative.
My kids mom hates me and was in cancer research and sent me this factoid sheet from the American Cancer Association that said my five year survival odds were 3%. She said I was wasting my time I had left. She fueled my fire to live just to prove her wrong but at this point my kid wanted me to die because he thought he’d get lots of life insurance money. Then I had to take custody unexpectedly of that same kid who wanted nothing to do with me. I was barely selling enough cars to keep my job and now had to take care of and raise a 13 year old with angst. That’s when my family truly disappeared and I think it’s because they’re worried my cancer would cone back then they’d have to care for my kid.
Fast forward to now and my son is reunited with his mom. His and my relationship has never been better after getting to spend 16 months living together. My health is I’m still alive obviously but my lungs are getting much weaker and my volume is shrinking and i also originally diagnosed late stage copd and have to take steroids to help me breathe. So my health is back on the downslope and my family is completely gone. My dad never calls or talks to me, and neither do my brother or sister. I see my mom once every couple of months when she’s home from Florida . We’ll go to Cracker Barrel and she’ll give me this half disgusted look and I get about 45 minutes of her time
I’m just sad that they’re gone but realized they’re kind of not the best family so I might be better. I truly believe they were looking at my custody and health situation as a hot potato so they all ran for the hills. Now with my breathing is getting more and more along with seizures it’s difficult and it’s real I’m going to die young and possibly soon. it’s really effecting my memory and stamina. I get confused and need naps. Its sometimes an insurmountable task for me to go greet a customer on the lot and begin the five hour process of selling a car and getting dirty looks from customers because I look like shit because well Ive been through some stuff. My sales are failing and they want me gone. I need health insurance and what little money I do make to support my son. Im worried all this financial, parental, and physical stress is going to bring back my cancer just because im stressed and just feel hopeless. I think of how I’ll die from COPD and how horrifying it seems to die that way. With my family gone and my coworkers wanting me gone I know it will be alone or at a state hospital with some hospice nurse I have no clue is. I don’t look for your pity but I’d like any advice you might have to how I can find solace in this lonely isolated place I’m trapped in. I’m angry at my family but I love them.I feel like I was supposed to die and even though I didn’t die then physically I died to them mentally. Maybe it’s too tough to watch someone you love struggle and know you’ll have to do it again
The only thing besides spending time with my son that really makes me happy is painting. During all of this I somehow found out I love to paint and since a June 2022 I’ve painted a couple of hundred paintings. Painting gives me hope.

So in February I had a swollen lymph node that I had to take antibiotics for. It was over 1,000 mg and I had never taken such a high dose. Then right after the course I got a uti (or so I thought). I had taken azo, and drank tons of liquids and cranberry juice. I went away then came back. I keep taking medication for it and it keeps coming and going. I do some research and see it could actually be a yeast infection from the antibiotics. So l order the 7 day cream and use it. I got my period so I had to stop usage then resumed after my period. Then I took the strong version of azo for uti because now I have pain when I pee. Then it disappears. Now I'm currently experiencing pain in my abdomen similar to cramps. I have a doctors appointment scheduled, but does anyone know what this could be? Or have any similar experiences? I'm freaking out because Google tells me l have underlying conditions or I'm pregnant. Please help🙏🎀

Hi all, my mitotic rate is 2-3, non-ulcetated, 0.82mm, on top of my foot. I met with my surgical oncologist & he said 15% chance it may have spread to lymph nodes. Can someone please share positive stories with high mitotic rates, those who did not have any spread to lymph nodes? I believe I was given the 15% chance & not lower due to the mitotic rate. Really struggling while waiting, thinking every ache and pain is the cancer spreading. In need of positive stories! ☹️

Hi y'all, I just started week 3, 1.8mg, and for the past week have had this tension in my neck and my lymph nodes have been aching.
I know the risk of thyroid cancer is miniscule, especially appearing in a week lol, but has anyone else experienced the same? I've been waiting to see if I come down with cold or flu symptoms to explain the lymph nodes but so far nothing.
Thanks liraglutiders 😎🫡

33M, caucasian, non-smoker, social drinker, history of SVT with overall low risk factors. Currently taking Pantapropozole, Carvidolol, Multivitamin, Iron, Miralax. I'll attempt to make this short-winded and hope this counts as appropriate for this subreddit!. Around ~August 2023, I suddenly started having random spikes/drops in my sugar levels, as well as fatigue and notable weight loss (40 pounds over 4 1/2 months). My previous PCP started the workup and over the next ~3 months, I was in and out of hospital admissions/countless doctor visits. Over this time I started to develop more symptoms, most notably night sweats, increasing GI issues, and worsening fatigue/tiredness.
Because the symptoms were mostly non-specific, I had pretty broad, general workups with few things off (my hemoglobin dropped several points in November then slowly recouped back to 15.5. Saw a hematologist and he basically just said "you had a bleed, it clotted off and now you're recovering. If it drops again come back to me"). Full body CT w/contrast, MRI of spine/brain, colonoscopy/endoscopy, spinal tap, echo, CPX, countless blood tests which I would fail to mention all of, but including endocrine/rheumatological and autoimmune markers, as well as viral potential causes.
At some point in December my gp basically threw his hands up and said "we don't have anything to work with, the few abnormal things are recovering". Fast forward to February, I end up in the ER with severe nausea and a dull pain below my lower left rib cage. They do a repeat CT and mention that my spleen is still "minimally enlarged" but there are no noticable masses, and my liver is "no longer slightly enlarged". These are two things I was never told about, I suppose because they felt they weren't significant enough? But made me realize I needed another opinion/better guidance. The radiologist also noted on the report that I had "mild haziness near the mesenteric root of the pancreas level", but "pancreas unremarkable otherwise" as well as normal lymph nodes in the area. He recommended checking for pancreatitis and/or mesenteritis.
I go into a new GP in March. She's fantastic - extremely thorough and importantly doesn't immediately try to blame this all on the easy things. She gets me into GI and hematology (had another GI doctor but she wanted me to get another opinion, as the old one basically said your colonoscopy/egd are normal, come back in 7 years). Hematology came first, and he basically said objectively, you acutely then chronically bled, used up all your iron stores which caused excess fatigue (fatigue/tiredness is still a primary issue for me but is substantially better than a month ago when I started iron supplementation) and now you're recouping. We can do a bone marrow biopsy or a PET scan, but I can tell you what they will show: nothing. I asked about the spleen/livemesentery involvement and he just said "your blood work and scans show no sign of a mass, if malignancy were making you this symptomatic, it would be more obvious and you wouldn't have seen any improvement. In addition your liver has reduced in size and your spleen is still barely enlarged with no signs of mass, malignancy doesn't act this way".
I leave the visit at least more optimistic about the situation, but still feeling awful and like this is some type of GI related malignancy that's killing me, frankly. (As a side note, symptoms became so problematic that I had to stop working full time which has obviously been another stresser during all of this).
Then the GI visit comes (about 2 weeks ago now at this point). We go over everything and he just basically says "let's skip the MRI and go for a pillcam to get a closer look at your small intestines, and an endoscopic ultrasound to take a closer look at your pancreas and this inflamed part of your mesentery". Sounds great to me! I know people go years looking for a diagnosis sometimes, but the last 8 months have been the most exhausting/stressful/longest of my life and he seemed adamant about getting to the bottom of this.
Here's where my concern/question comes in: back in December in my last hospital admission, the hospitalist asked what I thought this may be. I pretty quickly said PC, because of the way things progressed and the initial, non-specific symptoms + sugar issues (which seem to have mostly gotten better? I've also regained 30 pounds since, which is a "good" sign I know). He kind of laughed and just said "your pancreas has been imaged and looked at twice by two separate radiologists and neither saw anything to worry about" (this was before the February scan showing mesentery involvement). I kind of gave up on that idea/worry for a long time because of the assured way he answered my concern over it, but now I've got it in my head that that's what has been the culprit all this time and have been told CT's miss signs of PC pretty frequently, and the mesentery/spleen findings are a result of pancreatic tail or body involvement that's spread, which the GI did mention it was unlikely to be in the head as you'd almost certainly see bile duct involvement/jaundice evidence at this point, or the classic pale/clay stools, which I haven't had.
I know there is pretty strong evidence to this point to suggest it isn't a pancreatic tumor, given 3 contrast CT's now over 9 months with no sign of it, improvement in some symptoms (night sweats are virtually gone, fatigue is significantly better), some of the more obvious/common symptoms not being there, like the stool/jaundice, but instinctively this just feels like the right place to look. I'm not terrified of a diagnosis at this point, but I'm absolutely mortified that this is going to get worse before I have the chance to even figure out what it is because of the things that have continued to worsen (nausea/malaise in the morning especially, tiredness/dyspnea... Well, the dyspnea has improved since the iron supplementation as well, but considering I could get up and run five miles 9 months ago and now a small flight of stairs whip me...). The idea of losing ~6 months of valuable time if I'd pushed this concern harder back in December is also a hard pill to swallow. Speaking of, the pillcam is Thursday, and the EUS is the 28th. I tried to move it up but they are booked out (I feel like I they suspected pancreatic cancer they would have got me in sooner as well) and I don't want to push it anymore in the case that it isn't that, and I potentially take someone's spot that needs it before I do. I guess I'm asking for someone to talk me off this ledge and trust that something obvious wasn't missed, or even recommend I continue to push this as maybe it sounds like a familiar situation someone has witnessed in the past where it ended up being something like PC. I think I've mentally accepted almost every potential outcome of this situation except for that one, which likely has to do with me being intimately familiar with what it looked like in the end for a friend.
That was... Long-winded. Sorry, I tried haha. I wish you all the best of health moving forward!

i'm currently taking latuda 20mg and trazodone 50 mg for sleep. i take 1-2 stimulant laxes a day after taking 3-5for years and i wanted to wean off them entirely, but i've found it hard to stop.
ever since i started psych medication after 2.5 years of not being on it, i'm bipolar and had a very bad breakdown my gi issues have worsened. i've been using lax since i was about 19-20, i'm 27 now, i struggled with such bad constipation after my bout with anorexia that i never stopped taking stimulant laxatives, though i've gradually reduced them. every psych medication i've tried since december 2023 has failed me and i'm now starting to suspect it's my lax use, but i'm afraid to stop out of fear of what itll do to my bowels.
for the past week i've been experiencing on and off vertigo/dizziness, shivering, heart palpitations, exhaustion, farting and lymph node swelling, coldness in my limbs and muscles, and sensitivity around my veins, immense stomachache, which has never occurred longer term before, just once in a blue moon. when i scratched my stomach earlier the skin actually turned red. i cannot tell if this is the psych medication or not but a lot of it seems to occur around my bowel movements. it also happened during/after my period. makes it hella hard to function and i feel out of commission and extremely exhausted during the hours where i experience those symptoms.
i have an appointment with therapist tmmrw and i dont know if i should tell her i need to stop and search for advice. i already owe thousands to the ER from an allergic reaction to my medication so i'm afraid to go to a residential. i have also been tested for other conditions and they claim nothing is wrong other than a higher than avg hemoglobin level and a 'dry kidney' from dehydration. yet i feel like absolute sick shit.
i'm not engaging in restrictive behavior beyond the lax taking. my insurance is crappy and i only have a general practitioner doctor and psychiatrist whos out of pocket. dont think anyone who specializes in gi health is covered. my entire body is heaving and writhing and has no idea what to do and i'm afraid of stopping the lax, should i just reduce it to one pill every few days to start and then buy some miralax?
please, i need help. i've been wanting to get off these for years but felt helpless to stop and now i fear if i dont it will end catastropically. i'm afraid my system will shut down if i dont stop, but i'm also afraid itll shut down if i stop cold turkey too quickly. please please help me and offer me some advice on how to get thru this.

I 32F had an abdominal CT with contrast following removal of a borderline ovarian tumor. No other medical conditions. This was ordered after my first visit with the gyn oncologist to make follow up plans. In the results the radiologist put:
“No suspicious finding. Pelvic ultrasound and MRI have better sensitivity for evaluation of reproductive organs.”
Am I overthinking this? Is that a subtle concern? The observations are as follows:
OBSERVATIONS: LIMITED LOWER CHEST: Normal. LIVER: Normal. BILIARY TREE: Normal. GALLBLADDER: Normal. PANCREAS: Normal. SPLEEN: Normal. ADRENAL GLANDS: Normal. KIDNEYS/URETERS/BLADDER: Normal. PELVIC ORGANS: Normal, accounting for CT technique. BOWEL: Normal. LYMPH NODES: Normal. PERITONEUM/MESENTERY: Physiologic amount of free pelvic fluid. No ascites. VESSELS: Normal. ABDOMINAL WALL: Probable postsurgical changes. BONES: Normal.
What would be the meaning of “normal, accounting for CT technique” in reference to the pelvic organs? Does this mean she didn’t get a clear view?

Age 50
Sex F
Height 5"3
Weight 135
Race Caucasian
Duration of complaint n/a
Location usa
Any existing relevant medical issues detailed in post
Current medications none at time in question
Include a photo if relevant n/a
edit for rule following- asking this question because it is now personally effecting me: I need to know if it's possible that there's a rare hereditary platelet disorder in my family, or if it's just alcoholism, because my child requires a surgery and their hematologist basically left it up to me whether I wanted to pursue testing since the relatives is so inconclusive.
original post:
A family member recently had two surgeries - a craniotomy for an unruptured aneurysm (which was done emergently as the patient had a seizure) and then a thyroidectomy / lymph node removal. Post op courses of both were slow with excessive bruising, they required draining of blood collection multiple times after the removal of the lymph nodes.
A Hematology work up was negative for all the common issues (such as Von Willebrands). It was basically concluded to be an unidentifiable platelet issue (possibly PAI1)
It is suspected that this person was drinking to excess at the time, but they denied it both to family and to their medical team (it was reported as "occasional social drinking").
I know that alcohol can cause bleeding, but my question is how much drinking would it take to cause a problem like this, and would they have needed to actually be drinking within the immediate time frames of the surgeries themselves, or would significant alcohol abuse in the same time as the issues be enough to cause this problem.
Thanks!

I had an infected Bartholian cyst and it’s now almost gone yay but my Lymph node on my thigh on the same side is swollen, was wondering if this happens to anyone else? I have a doctors appointment in the next week just incase but I’m really anxious about it because my dog was just diagnosed with lymph node cancer haha :(

I [18f] and my mom [46f] used to get along really well when I was younger. I never had that “I hate my parents” phase like most of my friends did and I really enjoyed going shopping and going on little weekend trips with my mom. When I was 13 we discovered I had a gluten and dairy allergy so my mom worked really hard to help me find foods and really supported my diet no matter what. After my 16th birthday my mom quit buying me food and on my birthday made a normal cake saying “nobody is going to want to eat a gluten and dairy free cake” when all the years prior she had no problem making me birthday cakes the fit my allergy needs. So I never got a cake and my brother ended up eating all the birthday cake. Then I got my first job where I worked 5 days a week and only ate once a day on the days I worked because it was the only place I could get food. One day I went to my grandmas house and asked if she had any of my food (my grandma almost always accommodated for my allergies) she said she had one of my frozen pizzas in the freezer, we went out together and that’s when I told her my mom had quit buying me food. A whole fight broke out between the two and my mom started crying while my brother comforted her and my dad called me a spoiled brat. After that my mom bought me food on and off for 3 months until I started my senior year of When I was midway through high school I learned that my allergies had gone away from accidentally eating cheese that was on a burger. My mom seemed really annoyed and I started eating normal food. Recently me and my bf [19m] have been talking about moving in together. All of my friends and coworkers are super supportive and excited for me, but my parents just act like they want me out of the house. My older brother (we’ll call him Steve) has a swollen lymph node on his neck and has had to go to the doctor several times for last month and a half. At first I was really concerned about it, but after the doctors ruled out that It was nothing serious like cancer I realized he was ok. Well, Steve had gotten a temporary disability from his work, so that he’ll still get payed to just sit in his room all day. Meanwhile my parents fuss over him daily, my mom can’t have a conversation with me without him being the main subject and Steve has literally gotten away with throwing things at me and cussing at me while my mom doesn’t do anything. I tried bringing it up to my mom and she got mad at me saying that Steve is hurt and he could be unalived by his swollen lymph node and saying how they talk about me just not in front of me. I pretty much dropped it after that but my mom only continued talking about him more. A few weeks ago I had to report someone to the police for harassment and because she was causing a lot of stress in my life, when I told my mom she just shrugged it off acting like it was a normal thing to do every day. Steve is home everyday and my mom acts like she never sees him. Whenever he comes downstairs it’s always “hey Steve! How are you! What have you been up to?” Whereas I can be gone every day for 2 weeks and my parents won’t even bat an eye. Yesterday my boyfriend’s ex girlfriend came into my work and just watched me for an hour. I tried my best to ignore her and finished up my shift. When my mom got home from work I told her and she just brushed it off like it was nothing, but turned around and fusses over if my brother had eaten or not. Side note: my boyfriend lives almost an hour away so his ex had to drive a good 40 minutes just to get to my work I’ve been upstairs almost all day today, but I’m just so frustrated and I needed to get this off my chest, does anyone have any advice?

Hi guys, I’m a 23M that has been diagnosed with a probable virus after seemingly having tonsillitis. I’ve tested negative to everything - strep, STI’s, mono, influenza, covid etc. anything that can be swabbed or blood tested. All 4 doctors have no clue. I’ve been prescribed erythromycin (taking it for acne beforehand so doubled dose) for 6 days when there was white puss/infection coming from only right tonsil, then penicillin with erythromycin for 10 days after puss went away but still sore to swallow and swollen. Weird thing is halfway through the penicillin it flared up again, having around 5 tiny white dots appear predominantly on the inflamed right tonsil for a couple days. This was accompanied with swelling that made the tonsil protrude towards the uvula too. Whilst it’s settling down again after 4 days of dots, I still have swelling 3 weeks later. My main concern is the anatomy of my right tonsil because where the puss was coming from in the slit is healing so slowly and it’s like my tonsil has a little dangly thing/uvula of it’s own now lol. Could it be a stubborn tonsil stone or something causing the protrusion? Never had my tonsil look like this. I’ve poked around with a q-tip and it actually tucked in the dangly thing a little, with no clear stones or anything behind it or the tonsil flaps.
Current symptoms are barely any throat pain when swallowing, swelling and inflammation of right tonsil and moderate lymph nodes in neck, chronic fatigue, no fever, sporadic body aches and pains.
I’m lost because I’ve never been sick for this long for a respiratory issue and feel something’s not right.
Images: https://ibb.co/gVm74Zv https://ibb.co/C90CMd0

26F. About 4 years ago an US revealed a hypoechoic lesion in my R lumbar area measuring slightly greater than 1cm. The doctor i was seeing at the time didnt think any follow up was necessary. I had a CT that showed swollen mesenteric and pericecal lymph nodes about 5 months ago with an incidental note of the lesion. On the note it said "if patient doesnt have known cancer, follow up is recommended based on clinical findings " I was negative for 32 different viral/bacterial infections they checked for. I'm having my follow up scans this Friday due to increased pain in my R lumbahip as well as numbness in the same area, to see if the hypoechoic lesion has grown and if the nodes are still swollen. My question is, if the lymph nodes are still enlarged what would be the likely next course of action? My Dr mentioned surgery for the lesion if it has grown, I assume they would biopsy it at that point? Could these things be related? Hx: Anemia, complex ovarian cyst, prior cholecystectomy in 2017, chronic fatigue

Female 45 No drugs/alcohol. Live in California.
Hi, I was laying down and randomly touching my left collarbone and felt a shallow bump that moves around. So I freaked out and started feeling around and I think I feel another at the top of my clavicle (and the one closer to the bottom). They both move and feel almost like liquid. Of course, Google says I have Cancer because any swollen lymph nodes on the left clavicle is mostly Cancer. I just had a blood test and a CT Abdomen scan for something separate, and all was good. I haven't been sick.
Side note: When I stood up and kind of poked my collarbone out, they were harder to find. I feel them mostly when lying down. You can't see them from outside the skin and there doesn't seem to be redness or swelling in the area.

I’m new here, diagnosed stage 3 cHL - recently finished my 6 cycles of AAVD treatment and had my scan yesterday. Results came out today and I will speak with my oncologist later this week, but it seems like the original condition has gotten better.
However it seems like there’s more lymph node activity(/swelling?) elsewhere, particularly with the inguinal node. Has this happened to anyone before? Should I be worried? Doctor briefly said in email that he’s not really convinced it’s another lymphoma, but we should try to get a biopsy.

My cat has a dime size bump on his stomach under the skin. It feels like a small enlarged lymph node. It's not changing in size and he is eating, playing and acting normal.
This came about the same time he's gotten some acne which comes and goes based on our household craziness.
I took him to the vet and she tried to biopsy it and she said she couldn't get a good luck under the telescope? She recommended we remove it though she doesn't know what it is. Is there a test or something we can do to get confirmation it needs to be removed?
My cat has a history of injection site sarcomas and has already had surgery due to them before. I'd prefer to not put him through surgery if necessary. It would also cause a lot of problems because our second cat doesn't have great eye sight and went feral the last time he had to wear a cone.

This is my cry for help, I’ve been dealing with this for 3 months, and I just need to know if there’s someone else out there dealing with a similar situation, I just need help, considering it’s gotten to the point where I feel I’m alone in this and feel like my own family has given up and turned their backs on me, I know i shouldn’t feel this way, but it truly feels like their care has disappeared, I’d say their support and care last 3 and a half weeks after release from the hospital, now all that I hear is “your fine” “it’s all in your head” “you have a virus we already know what’s going on” I feel like I’m in a damn bad dream. Here what happened. February around the 9th I came down with a fever not rather high not rather small around the middle, assuming at the time was the flu, it last 5 days a fever that couldn’t for some reason get rid of I began to come down with a rather stronger dizziness but not like a dizziness I’ve ever felt before, but still didn’t think much of it, day 4 of that fever I began to come down with a pain in my abdomen and my lymph node on the right side of my neck swelled and the occipital node on the back of my neck swelled, day 5 and the pain in my abdomen got worse and I went to a walk in to my pcp who said if it doesn’t go away in 2 days go to the er because she wanted to assume it was my lung but did mention it could be my gall bladder which I assumed was, the pain got worse and I didn’t make it 2 hours I went to the er they said it was my gall bladder but after an mri and blood work a day later I was transferred to a hospital being monitored for liver failure, the doctors in this case misdiagnosed the reasoning and made what I felt to be an uneducated assumption. And handled it in a way that one of my neurologist said was mal practice. They said it was my meds which I felt was wrong they stripped me of my meds basically cold turkey and put me on keppra which I’ve been on before and was terrible. I was released 3 days after that, and at first felt fine but I knew something was off and I felt something was missed, I began to research so much I discovered and basically diagnosed myself that it was ebv and mono, I brought it up to pcp, but 2 days before I did I went to my neurologist who changed my meds again so that a 3 medicine switch in the span of days, I was already trembling and having a massive anxiety attack in the office and then those anxiety attacks would linger strongly through the next couple of weeks. I felt this was all bad and that these calls were being made incorrectly, my pcp tested me and it came back positive for ebv and mono. Everything was for nothing and I was correct in my own diagnosis. My liver enzymes reached 600 before coming down and right after I found out I went back to my old medication (depakote) because the withdrawals felt like they were killing me. And behold my enzymes remained normal to this day. But the physical and mental toll from this virus lingers still, now on three months, not as bad as before considering the anxiety attacks which I’ve never had before aren’t as strong, but some do still occur. I lost 9 pounds in a week since I was in straight bed for a couple days not eating or anything, dealing with whatever was destroying me inside psychologically and physically, to today I’ve lost 23 pounds, and this coming after my appetite came back and I continue to not be able to gain the weight back, my heart rate elevation has been an issue considering it steady in 110 to 120 when I stand up and walk around, I went from 167 true weight, to 144, I’m 23 years old and 5’8. I continue to have on and off chest pain I get weird inner vibrations and when I lay down I feel like my right arm and leg gets have and a little tense, my right arm feels fuzzy when laying in my back. I have dizziness and I just feel hopeless, sleeping problems. the common way used to feel about the attack was like I feel like a seizure was about to happen but nothing happens. I have trouble sleeping. One lymph node never completely went away. I’ve been to the er twice since being out the hospital but they didn’t do anything the ekg they said came back normal, which I feel I should get another one done soon since the pain is starting up. I’ve stressed a neurological problem, I’ve had some sensations that I can’t even describe but I’ve mentioned concerns of my brain but no one has said anything about getting an mri even though I think I need one done or even potentially my spine considering I’ve had passed damage to my spine, life feels weird right now, I’m beginning to see no end to this problem, I feel like damage is being done to my nerves or brain and no one’s listening. But it all comes back to did this virus trigger something else. I’m sorry it’s a lot to read but I feel like I have no one else to talk to, that will listen. Plz if anyone else has been in a similar situation having epilepsy and complications with this virus plz talk to me. I’m praying one day this will all be done with and I’ll wake up as normal as I used to be. Every symptom I can describe: 1. Anxiety attacks or something 2. Tremors in hands when I with them inwards 3 chest pains 4 elevated heart rated 5 weird sensation in right arm and leg when laying down 6 inner vibrations when laying down 7 left eye twitches recently started 8 weight loss 9 sleep disturbances 10 weird muscle twitches random times of the day random muscles subtle not strong. 11. Fatigue 12 dizziness/vertigo 13 depression 14. Hate to say but I potential altered mental status.

I participated in the UCSF LIINC study today. For those unfamiliar with it, it’s a program at UCSF that studies patients with Long Covid. Specifically one thing they’re looking for is evidence of viral persistence.
They performed an FNA (fine needle aspiration) on my lymph node today which they plan to send to UPenn to analyze. The FNA procedure itself involves getting numbed in an area where a lymph node is and then they do a biopsy on it. It’s not as painful as it sounds actually. I didn’t really feel much except a couple of pricks from the Lidocaine they gave me. No other side effects really except for a sore neck.
One interesting thing the doctor who performed it said was that all the long covid patients he’s seen have had very small lymph nodes which he said is unusual if your body was fighting a viral infection. It kind of makes me wonder if viral persistence isn’t the cause of LC. They did find evidence of viral persistence in the gut though which is interesting. Maybe the immune system is being suppressed?

Hi guys
Sorry if this is a long post. I’ve not really been able to speak to anyone in my life about my experience and I have just hit a wall. I’ve been with my husband (34M) for 12 years. We got married in June and have a gorgeous one year old girl. He had a large lump on his neck for 6 months that he was continually told was nothing. He pushed and it was eventually biopsied and he was diagnosed very unexpectedly with nasopharyngeal carcinoma in November 2023 which had spread to lymph nodes in his neck bilaterally. There were many tests and procedures to get the full diagnosis and I am fairly confident that the primary tumour is more extensive than he understands based on some comments made by doctors. He wasn’t a candidate for surgery given the tumours locations, so he had six rounds of chemo to try to shrink the tumours before starting two months of daily radiation and weekly chemo. We are on week 7 of 8. I have taken most of the responsibility for parenting our daughter since she was born. I had to take a career break as we couldn’t get childcare for her (childcare in Ireland is horrific, it’s impossible to get). My background is a speech and language therapist and SLTs work in head and neck cancer. Although it’s not my area, I studied in it and did hospital rotations so had a good understanding of the effects of treatment for his cancer. Anyway, since his diagnosis I am full time caregiver to both my husband and daughter. We have no childcare so essentially I spend 17 hours or so a day caring for one or other of them. I’ve not had so much as an hour to myself since this began. I have had moments of overwhelm but keep trying to pick myself back up. My husband would be by nature quite an impatient person and can be quite insensitive. I have tried to stay empathetic, I know he is suffering and struggling but I am so tired of being snapped at, being spoken of poorly and there being no recognition of how difficult it has been to go through this while also raising our child alone. Our little girl is so sweet, for months I’ve talked to her about daddy being sick, his medicine, going to the doctor, blowing kisses when she’s been sick so as not to make him sick etc. He sees her for honestly no more than a few minutes a day which is really hard on her. Today she went to hug him and he said can you take her away, time goes too slow when she’s around and i want to ge left alone. Two days ago he bit my head off for “encouraging her” to come up to him (yet he will look for hugs etc when it suits him). I was frankly disgusted and reminded him she is a little girl and he’s her Dad, that there is a balance. He told me there is no balance and he doesn’t care about anyone else right now. I suggested a nebuliser for him with his care team today, which I sourced, organised a prescription for the saline, picked up, paid for and sterilised and set up for him this evening. After finishig, he really flew off the handle at me for suggesting he try a particular mouthwash again. He swore at me, told me I’ve been horrible to him, that I’m not even trying, and much worse. I am so worn down from how he is acting towards me. I promise this is not a situation whereby I am giving a skewed view - I know what he’s saying is untrue, im doing absolutely everything for him and my daughter to my on detriment. I just don’t know where to put all these feelings. Im petrified for him and I’m also tired of being the target of his outbursts. I know he fully believes what he says to me and that hurts the most, I know that no apology will come because he thinks I’m at fault. Im worried for our relationship. How have others got through the rage and blame? Does anyone else have young kids? I don’t want to speak to others in real life as I don’t want them to judge him afterwards, plus it’s hard to speak badly of someone going through gruelling cancer treatment. Apologies again for the long post, it’s the first time I’ve said any of this out loud