Oprah Winfrey had a health scare recently after she noticed swollen glands in her neck. As some of you may know, swollen neck glands may be a sign of cancer or HIV/AIDS.
Oprah recently opened up about her health scare that elevated her blood pressure and sent her rushing to her doctor’s office.
The media mogul feared the worst when she woke up one morning and noticed the swelling in her neck. She called her doctor, who urged her to schedule an emergency appointment.
In an essay posted to OprahMag.com, Winfrey, 64, explains that her salivary glands were blocked.
“I couldn’t believe it. I’d worked myself up to a blood pressure reading of 150/80 thinking about how I was going to rearrange my life to deal with whatever this was,” she writes, explaining her doctor suggested drinking water and sucking on lemons to bring the swelling down.
“I was grateful. Not just because things weren’t worse, but for the simple awareness that a tiny salivary gland can get clogged with mucus or crystallized-calcium stones and disrupt your whole system,” she adds.
“Our bodies are amazing. And too often we are not grateful for their perfect functioning, balancing bacteria and enzymes, managing blood flow, thrumming the sinus rhythm beat, beat, beat of our hearts day in, day out. As they say, you don’t appreciate your health until you no longer have it.”
Photo by David Livingston/Getty Images
