I've been having the same problem for about 3 weeks - painful swallowing - on the right side of my adam's apple.
I had a cold just before that. I didn't pay attention to when exactly this started but I think it was just after the cold. I took dayquil for a few days - did not help.
I went to see my doctor yesterday and she ruled out a lot of the options due to the fact that I don't have fever or any signs of cold.
She told me to take antibiotics for strep throat and come back if nothing changes in a few days. Then she will refer me to a specialist who will look inside my throat with a camera and see if there is anything wrong.
I started the antibiotics Friday morning (yesterday). If I don't notice even a little difference by tomorrow evening, I am going back to the hospital on Monday. I am totally freaked out - I can't think about anything else...
I can't believe this can be cancer - I don't smoke, drink occasionally, I am 28 (throat cancer seems to mostly affect folks 66+)... and still have all of the symptoms...
I was curious if you ever found out the cause of your symptoms. I have the same thing.