swollen inguinal lymph nodes, urinary retention

ashell

Hi all!

I'm not really sure my point in posting, mostly just feel like venting.

So I was diagnosed with breast fibromatosis back in 2012. It's an incredibly rare invasive tumor and resulted in a mastectomy at age 22.

A few years later I started experiencing a sense of incomplete bladder emptying. I also noticed I had swollen lymph nodes in my right inguinal region. I started experiencing extreme night sweats around this time but that eventually tapered off. I talked to my doctor about it and I remember at first not being taken seriously. Eventually I had an ultrasound of my kidneys, lymph nodes, and bladder before and after urination.

The bladder showed minimal residual urine (around 15ml I think). My lymph nodes were moderately large - one was 25 mm x something x something, the other I believe 15 mm x 15 mm x 16mm. My kidneys were normal size I think, one a little larger than the other.

I just looked at the report on my online chart about 30 minutes ago, but when I went to print it, it disappeared and it no longer seems to be in my chart. So that's frustrating.

Anyway, this was all done in 2015. My doctor didn't seem to think there was anything to worry about. A few years later in 2017 when the nodes were still swollen, hard, immovable, and just bothering me, I pushed to get them biopsied. When I went for the biopsy, the doctor there told me that they were small and didn't need to be biopsied. He just said they seemed big because I was thin. (I'm not like excessively thin or anything). I mentioned that I had had them ultrasounded before but I forgot that they were measured then and that the report said they were enlarged. The doctor managed to convince me that they didn't need to be biopsied..

Anyway, here we are at today. The lymph nodes are still swollen. They still feel the same. They don't feel bigger, but not smaller either. Sometimes I can feel them when I'm having sex.. like my partner is pushing on them from inside. Other times I am aware of them when I'm running. Otherwise they aren't painful. I still struggle with a sense of urinary retention basically every time I go pee. Sometimes if I stay there for just a minute or so, a whole other stream comes out that feels like way more than 15 ml. Not sure if the two are related.

Anyway, I don't know. I have a couple other little things going on that I emailed my doctor about, and also mentioned pretty much what I said here and that I wasn't able to print the report or access it, and asked if there was a way I could see it again. Of course I got an auto response that she will be out of office for the next few weeks.

So.. I just feel blah. I constantly feel like I appear as a hypochondriac with all of my ailments, but they are very real. And I have been proven right several times (ie with the breast tumor, and also some skin issues that showed up as moderately atypical/possibly precancerous). Also tinnitus that turned out to be caused by unilateral hearing loss. etc etc. I struggle with depression so that doesn't help.

Thanks for listening if you read this far.