Oprah Winfrey Talks Recent Health Scare: ‘I Thought the Worst’

Oprah Winfrey visits Bloomberg News in March 2017. (Credit: Bloomberg/YouTube)

Oprah Winfrey is getting candid about her health in the November issue of O, The Oprah Magazine.

The famed talk show host reveals in her column, “What I Know For Sure,” that she recently endured a health scare.

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While cooking breakfast one “ordinary” Friday morning, Winfrey felt “a bit of soreness” in her neck, pain that prompted her to examine herself in a mirror. The 64-year-old mogul then noticed swelling “under the left side” of her chin, a symptom that got worse by morning’s end.

“By the time I finished making breakfast, the swelling had increased,” she wrote. “It looked like a goiter that had come out of nowhere. I immediately Googled ‘swollen lymph gland causes.’ None of the results was good.”

Oprah Winfrey pictured harvesting her personal garden. (Credit: Oprah Winfrey/Instagram)
Oprah Winfrey is pictured harvesting her personal garden. (Credit: Oprah Winfrey/Instagram)

Terrified, a bunch of questions flashed through her mind.

“For the next four hours, I thought the worst,” the television producer penned. “Why would a neck suddenly swell? Maybe it wasn’t sudden. Maybe whatever it was had been growing for days, or longer, and I only now noticed.”

Winfrey consulted a doctor immediately, and she convinced herself that the appointment would lead to terrible news.

“When I finally opened my mouth to say ‘ahhh,’ I was prepared for the doctor to say, ‘I’m so sorry, Ms. Winfrey, you have [insert terrible disease],'” she added.

Luckily, the results were nothing to worry about.

“What she actually said was, ‘I think your salivary glands are blocked.’ Go home, drink plenty of water, and try sucking on some lemons to stimulate your salivary ducts,'” Winfrey recalled.

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Within a few days, the CEO of the Oprah Winfrey Network was back to normal, and she discovered a newfound appreciation for her body.

“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,” Winfrey shared in the essay. “As they say, you don’t appreciate your health until you no longer have it.”

Of course, Winfrey’s fortune extends beyond her good health. The Selma actress was the only black CEO who made Fortune magazine’s 2018 list of Most Powerful Women.