Hi Jeff,

You must be somewhat relieved to have a course of action and anxious to get your PET/CT done.
My husband also had his neck dissection prior to therapy, but only one side. There is a very small LN on the left that they think is probably malignant, but they felt confident the radiation and chemo would take care of that. I was a little apprehensive at first to leave that in, but I have to have faith in what they think is the best approach.
I think being comfortable with the decisions you make along the way helps to get through this. Be sure you stay on top of any symptoms with your doctors, no matter how small you may think they are.
My husband really didn't have a lot of pain with the neck dissection. They did removed a big muscle and now he has a droopy shoulder and it is thin on that side of his neck. Once he gets through therapy and is feeling better, we can work on strengthening that shoulder area. He did have some nerve damage and talks sort of out of the side of his mouth on one side. This was mentioned to us as a possible result from the surgery. Since we don't live on the same island as his surgeon, we haven't seen him since my husband began therapy. I am anxious to see him to see if he thinks that this nerve problem may be temporary. I am sure he told us but I can't recall right now. I guess I thought that would be the least of his problems. I just wanted his surgery to go well and get those nodes out. His surgery for one side took about 4 1/2 hours.
I'm sure out paths will cross on here again.
This forum really helped me prepare and I am thankful for it everyday.
Vicki