Day 1

It was February 8th - an ordinary day. I was just having my dinner when I felt something weird under my right jawline. Hmm, I touched it - it was obviously a swollen lymph node. I thought that it just happens. It was February, flu was raging, so I must have caught some infection of some sort. I have to say that I am usually not that type of a person who puts off things till tomorrow (meant figuratively, I read numerous stories, many people did wait for weeks and even some for months till they told their GP about the node). So, the very next day, I drove to see my GP. She touched the node and decided to do a blood test. It was rather quick, the results came within three hours. I was beginning to fear that it might be some kind of serious infection, because it was the first time ever I'd had a swollen lymph node - and I mean it was swollen properly and it had grown very quickly - just in one week!

Fortunately, the GP placated my worries because my white cell blood count was within the usual range, so there is no way I might have developed any serious disease such as leukemia and so forth. The "CRP" (C-reactive protein) shot up though, but I was told that is a marker of any inflammation in the body. As most infections are not very serious, I was calm.

My GP sent me home with antibiotics that were supposed to get rid of the inflammation.

Note: Lymph nodes are often mistakenly called "glands". But there are not glands, since they do not secrete anything.