Hi there - I am going ot agree with pandora, I would be very surprised if your nodes are not cancerous. Anything is possible but ... Realistically it's highly likely. I'm sorry I didn't see your previous message until now. I usually stop by daily somehow I missed it. My drs. Initial decision with regards to the neck dissection is his experience with this cancer (this is all he does - he is the chief of the head and neck clinic at ohm, teaches at UofT, and trains international fellows in his surgical technique - he was featured in macleans magazine - as number 1 - under the top ten drs. Drs. go to when sick). He knows that not everything shows up on a scan and in his experience over the years he's been treating this cancer has been that leaving the nodes behind tends to lead to a recurrence. Period. The neck dissection really has the least amount of impact. Most of the range of motion in the arm, and shoulder will return with proper therapy over time, as long as you are diligent and determined. (They cut your neck muscles and nerves) ultimately you will have a wonky shoulder - numbness and swelling that will subside over time. Three years out the swelling is a non issue for me, my shoulder is about 98-99 % normal. Mostly my complaint would be a tiny amount of weakness and tiredness when say.. Doing aggressive yoga... Day to day it is not noticeable and truthfully once I get back to the gym (I've been lazy) I will sort it out. From a pain stand point you are numb post op (and you'll look scary for a bit - looked like I went a few laborious rounds with a Mack truck post op) numbness I would say is semi permanent. Nerves do eventually regenerate but it takes a few years and can feel crampy but for the most part I am pain free. Others have a bit more pain, but that really is dependent on the surgeon, and where they cut and the patient and how they deal with pain. The numbness does minimize though, the area that is numb gets much smaller, and I've been stiff, but that slowly loosens up with massage therapy and stretching.

With regards to your individual problems tmj and the spinal issues, I'm not sure how the disks will be impacted - I'd say not much just based on the location of the surgery, tmj will likely not be a problem for the dissection but may for the tongue surgery - I would ask if they intend to split your jaw. So glad they are following through with the neck dissection but not glad that you appear to have nodes involved. I would say that at this point you should be facing rads and chemo post op. - were it me, I'd be yelling - bring it on.

Read up on the surgery - know what to expect post op. If you have any questions feel free to pm me. Hugs and best of luck.