http://www.smartgroups.com/message/readmessage.cfm?
gid=1423922&messageid=11529&startid=11518
 
Your description sounds like a large lymph node(s).  It is not a hard
surgery to remove a lymph node to send out to a pathologist for the
diagnosis.  Unfortunately lymphoma is the likely cause of a large "golf
ball sized" lymph node.
 
If it is lymphoma then there are options to treat it (chemotherapy, pred
with cyclophosphamide or just pred).  Let us know what the pathology
report says,
 
Jerry Murray, DVM
[Posted in FML issue 4703]