I had a bilateral neck dissection. Removed Levels I through V, but spared the jugular vein, the sternocleidomastoid muscle and the spinal accessory nerve. Also removed submandibular salivary gland on each side.

Surgery itself is a piece of cake, relatively speaking. You will not be the prettiest thing to look at for awhile, but it really is not bad. I had three drains installed during surgery, all of which were removed before I was discharged. I was working from home as soon as I got discharged, and was back at work as soon as I was allowed to drive, about 2 weeks.

Scar was in existing neck crease, pretty much invisible now. Even though the spinal accessory nerve was not removed, it takes a beating during the surgery. I have shoulder and neck stiffness and discomfort, some lymphedema (referred to affectionately here as "turkey neck"), and residual numbness in the neck. Now, some of this may also be attributable to the spinal fusion surgery I had 3 months before the neck dissection (they used the same incision as a starting point), but docs say most is due to ND.

All in all, it is the easiest part of treatment, by far! Good luck!

Gary, sorry to hear the bad news. Wishing you well.

Gary- My husband had nodes on both sides removed and as Jeff said you won't look pretty but it's not as bad as one would think. Most of the really ugly stuff will be gone before you leave the hospital. Will they be doing more chemo? That's the real tough stuff as you well know. Good luck to you.

Sue

Gary,

I feel for you.

There are many here that have had both sides done but usually pre Tx and I hope you hear from some. It sounds like they will not be doing a Radical ND but just popping out the affected nodes so the less damage to your nerves, muscles and blood vessels the less long term side effects you will most likely have to deal with.

Just curious..were you a tobacco user? Did they blast both sides of your neck during rad? How far from the original positive node(s) is the one on that side of the neck now? When did your Rad end?

Hi Gary,
I have had both sides done but they were 4 years apart. If you can get them to spare the submandible saliva glands without endangering your life, do so. They don't work as well after radiation, but they don't work at all if they are in the surgical bucket. My first doctor took the one on the right on the assumption that radiation would kill it anyway. My second doctor spared the one on the left so I still have a reasonable amount of saliva.

You most likely will need physical therapy after the surgery. If you have a desk job, you will probabaly be able to go back to work in a few weeks. make certain your chair has arms on it. As to neck stiffness and arm weakness, I have none from second surgery and only a little neck stiffness from first surgery(different surgeons). I had no pain with either operation. As someone said, this is the easy part of treatment.

Good luck to you and take care,
Eileen

Hi Gary so sorry to hear about you as you put it being tagged again...It sucks I can immagine what you are going through and you seem to be handling things well...as far as a double neck dissection not sure I had a bilateral and it isn't all that bad it has it's moments as far as my neck movements go they are coming back fairly quickly. I am about four weeks out from surgery and my range of movement is back 75% I guess it all depends on the dissection how far around they cut..

Best of luck dear and again sorry to hear

Dianne

I had a full neck disection with 42 lymph nodes removed and no cancer in the lymph the scar is still there and the tightness never goes away. I had SCC under my tongue which was removed. I had two drains on both side of my necks and recovery was slow for me. Good luck

[quote=davidcpa]Gary,


Just curious..were you a tobacco user? Did they blast both sides of your neck during rad? How far from the original positive node(s) is the one on that side of the neck now? When did your Rad end? [/quote]

Yep, smoked for a long time. The wife and I both quit about 10 years ago.
I think they did most of the RAD work on the rightside (that was where the first one showed)...but... because the actual cancer was on the base of my tongue they seemed to concentrate on the lower jaw and neck area.
The original node on the right that swelled is positive..I forget the dimensions but it is itty bitty..the one that caught the ONC attention on the CT scan is on the other side of my neck, and it is about the size of a small pea....it is the one we did the biopsy on.
Nov 27th 2007 was my last ride in the TOMO machine.

Looks like we are scheduled for Oct. 31st, guess I'll dig up a pair of Frankenstein neck bolts and have some fun with the Dr's. The ONC wants to wait until after the surgery to talk about doing anymore Chemo.

Thank you one and all for sharing your history...hopefully this will slip right on by and we can return to our version of normal.

Gary,

Just like that Verizon cell phone commercial, we're all here to support you.

Yep, Gary, we are all here. Seriously, you will fly through the neck dissection. You will become something of a conversation piece, bolts or not. My son got a real charge out of going to the store with me after I was "presentable" in public, and seeing the reactions of people.

One tip -- check with your doctor before the surgery to see if they are going to put a dressing on the incision. Because my neck felt like I was wearing a brick turtleneck, I just assumed that there was a surgical dressing. Nope -- just the incision and the staples, plus the drains for effect. The unaware visitor can turn several shades of green pretty quickly. ;-)