Fran,
I know this must be hard for you to go thru. My husband had his neck dissection before chemo/rad. He then had to wait to get better from treatment before PT which was about 5 months. The good thing is you will heal quickly from the neck dissection and will be able to get physical therapy much sooner. Dan has more permanent damage from scar tissue because he had to wait so long for PT. Take care and prayers and thoughts are with you and your family.
Debbie

Debbie - Caregiver for husband, Dan, diagnosed with tongue cancer 7/03. Partial gloss., mod. neck dissections, graft. Recurrence neck tumor 12/03. Radical left neck dissection 12/24/03-unable to get all the tumor. 8 weeks chemo/rad beginning 1/12/04.