Yvonne

Everybody has different takes on neck dissections. It's not really a debate as many OCF posters are content to have neck dissections that end up showing it didn't need to be done at all. They feel better knowing for sure there was no cancer in those lymph nodes. I am the resident contrarian here on OCF so even though I was Stage IV I chose not to have a neck dissection since I was comfortable that the radiation & chemocare of the lymph nodes involved. My ENT surgeon actually supported my decision although both the RO and MO urged me to get neck dissection. But the thought of having unnecessary surgery with major permanent effects dissuaded me.
When the cancer came back and I was having major salvage surgery, the neck dissection surgery was just a small part of it so I agreed. The pathology reports showed no cancer in the lymph nodes, and just necrotic tissues. So my ENT surgeon and my decision to forego a neck dissection turned out to be correct. Lots of people simply are not comfortable without taking every possible step, whether absolutely medically "necessary". It's important to work with your doctors and do what works for you.
Best wishes
Charm

Yvonne, I had a neck dissection, and chemo and radiation. I don't regret it at all. I did,however, have quite a bit of lymph node involvement. My ENT said that we would "throw the book at" the cancer, and I agreed. But, of course, everybody is different. (I was also HPV negative.)

Zengalib - glad to hear you are doing so well that's terrific. Cancer is scary - and insidious - I would much rather take more with no need than less and miss some - I too am HPV neg. And I agreed with your doctor the best defense is a good offense.
May many more clear scans come your way!

I put HPV (-) which to me means negative. Sorry I should have made that clearer. So I would opt for Mr Aggressive.

Interesting all the different approaches. I tend to think aggressive is best however in my case because I'm stage 1 and a PET scan came back clear, no neck dissection was deemed necessary. I also will not require radiation as I've been told that radiation isn't effective on dysplasia and all the SCC was removed in initial biopsy.

I'm looking forward to reading the pathology report from this weeks partial right lateral gloss with alloderm graft and resection of floor on the right side.

I agree that the different approaches are all very interesting. So far, my docs' approaches have been right on (for me). I am so glad to have this wonderful forum to come to. I wish that I had known about it when I was first diagnosed. My treatments were pretty rough, but hopefully, they did the trick.

For our 1st round with this cancer the recommendation was no chemo/rad as they got clear margins and only one lymph node was involved, said they could tell the cancer had not left the node. Cancer Bd. said odds were in our favor that it was totally gone.

11 months later Emmett started having issues and it took 4 months to get D as a reoccurance. The 4 months of the tumor(s) growning was the problem in my opinion. So bottom line the only thing we would have done differently was to be more aggresive with Drs. when we experienced symthoms of reoccurance. Since we didn't have the RD/Chemo the 1st time we could be more agressive with treatment this round. Then there are well meaning people who tell us if we had the treatment the 1st time it may never have come back. Bottom line is it a crap shot! Just have to make the most educated one you can and then pray for the best.

I am kind of along the same lines with Karen. My doctor never expected mine to come back at all and everything was going good with clear CT's but shortly after the two years mark - it's baaaack. I actually found the spot just having the doctor check on something that was bothering me. They did laser surgery thinking that was it but shortly after laser surgery I found a couple more spots. The interesting thing was the main tumor did not even show up on the PET scan. I think if they had done radiation earlier they would not have gotten it all due to where all the cancer was.