Feeling Rough and Confused

For the past month I've been dealing with some mysterious ailments that still remain a mystery.

In rapid succession, first a lymph node on the back of my neck swelled, and dagger-like pain invaded my right shoulder. We figured it was a virus and it would pass. I've certainly had instances like this in the past.

But after a month the node is still enlarged and the pain in the shoulder moved to the belly, my side and my lower back. The pain has always stayed on the right side of my body.

After a few weeks of dealing with this I made an appointment with the oncologist. Since I had scans in March he did not think that it was cancer on the move and decided that maybe we should wait it out.

I have an appointment with a surgeon in Philly this Thursday to discuss removing the sole known tumor in my body from my upper left lung. And my oncologist said that we should wait to see what he thinks before acting on my current ailments. "Maybe he'll order a PET scan," he said.

But I don't quite understand. Thursday the appointment is to discuss the tumor in my upper left lung. All of my current ailments have been along the right side of my body. I don't quite understand why we haven't jumped on the current ailments right away, and try to define their causes even before I go to Philly.

For whatever reason I feel the most pain during the night when I'm trying to sleep, or first thing in the morning. This morning was terrible, stabbing sharp pains alternating between my stomach, side and lower back.

I've developed gas in the stomach the past few weeks as well. And it expresses itself in little gas bubbles, in sets of two, three or four, up my esophagus. When this occurs the pain in my right side is its worse. It feels like something is going to burst, and it briefly folds me in two.

I'm very confused by the symptoms. They make no sense to me. It's the same type of pain, but moving from my shoulder to my stomach to my back?

And I'm very confused by the lack of action to try and determine the cause.

I've got a call in to the nurses at the oncology office, the first step in reporting issues. Now I'm just sitting out the morning waiting for a call back. There won't be time to have any testing done before Thursday's appointment in Philly. I just hope the surgeon isn't too confused planning on one specific subject for discussion and being thrown into another.