This Woman Shared How Her Lymph Node Swelling Turned Cancerous, Raising Awareness About Overlooked Indicators

Have you ever suffered from a swollen lymph node? The odds are that you have. In fact, swollen lymph nodes are extremely common and often seen as a positive bodily response.

Normally, swollen lymph nodes are a natural reaction to illness or infection and indicate that your body's immune system is working hard to fight it. Nonetheless, this kind of swelling could also point toward more severe health conditions.

One woman named Melea Patton recently learned that her supposed case of recurring swelling was actually a much more significant cause for concern. She shared her entire story with the TikTok community in hopes of raising awareness.

Melea described how one day, she noticed a "really large bump" on the side of her face. Despite being concerned, Melea did not have health insurance at the time and did not visit a doctor until her relatives began commenting on the swelling.

But, after visiting a clinic, the doctors declared Melea's swelling "just a swollen lymph node." They prescribed her steroids just in case the inflammation was caused by a virus and advised Melea to return in ten days if the swelling did not go down.

"I took the steroids for ten days, and it actually completely cleared up. Then, three days later, it came back," Melea explained.

Again, she became concerned and wanted to return to the doctor. Unfortunately, she had to wait six months until her health insurance was reinstated before doing so. Shockingly, though, the recurring lymph node swelling was written off again.

"The doctor said that it was probably just a swollen lymph node. But, they wanted to cut it out of my face because it was getting really large and was likely infected," Melea said.

TikTok; pictured above is Melea in her video

The doctors ended up putting her under anesthesia, removing part of her lymph node, and Melea believed everything was "back to normal"– until she received the dreaded call from her doctor.

"A week later, the doctor called me and said they sent it [her lymph node sample] off to the lab, and it came back as cancerous," Melea mentioned.

After processing the terrifying news, she was referred to a "great oncologist" for a PET scan. Again, Melea held onto hope.

"The oncologist said this was the earliest case he had ever seen. He had never seen such an isolated region and said that if we do radiation on that one spot, it would probably never come back," she explained.

So, Melea went through with the radiation and tried to stay positive despite the toll on her emotional and physical health. And eventually, she felt like "everything started to go back to normal."

That was until one month later when Melea had her post-radiation PET scan.

"I was sitting in the waiting room alone, and they told me that there were two more lymphomas inside of my body," she explained.

Understandably, Melea's heart broke. She had been so optimistic throughout the entire process that she did not even ask anyone to accompany her to the follow-up. Melea had believed that everything would be okay.

"I was crying and very freaked out. Then I asked the doctor if that meant I would have to do more radiation and chemotherapy, and the doctor looked at me and said no," she recalled.

That day, Melea, unfortunately, learned that she had an incurable disease. No amount of treatment would help her condition. The only thing that her doctors can do is "watch and wait."

"A lot of people live twenty more years, a lot of people live forty more years. And when something flares up, then we will treat it. But if not, you are just going to keep coming back three times a year for the rest of your life," Melea's doctor told her.

She learned of her diagnosis a year ago. Since then, Melea described how she has been trying to "live a normal life" without the weight of her diagnosis on her mind.

"But, every now and then, I think about it," she said, and it terrifies her.

Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma (NHL) is actually one of the most common cancers in the United States. And in 2022, about eighty thousand people will be diagnosed with NHL, according to the American Cancer Society.

Sadly, one of the most common early indicators of NHL is swollen lymph nodes– an often overlooked or written-off symptom. Malea has bravely shared her story in hopes that more people will "make sure to check [their] lymph nodes regularly."

And her TikTok has already gone viral, educating over seven hundred thousand viewers and gaining nearly one hundred thousand likes.

Many commenters thanked Malea for her openness and even shared how they plan to visit a doctor about their own persistent lymph node swelling.

The most important thing to remember is that, yes, lymph node swelling is very common and often not cancerous. However, if the issue is persistent, it is necessary to advocate for yourself and look into possible causes.

To learn more about Malea and follow along with her journey, you can visit her TikTok account linked here. Or, to watch her original TikTok, visit the link here.

https://www.tiktok.com/@meleapatton_/video/7105552473057709354

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