Further update:

So my medical team unanimously recommended that I undergo a 2nd round of chemo-radiation therapy (CRT)... and I agreed. On Wednesday they'll do a "simulation" to start the planning process. Treatment will begin in mid-January and be comprised of daily treatment for 6 weeks. The weekly chemo will include Erbitux this time (for the first time), plus one or two other sensitizing chemicals.

Its really depressing news after all I've been through already. But the risk of recurrence without a 2nd CRT just seems too high... and a recurrence would almost certainly mean death... so I have to do it. My RO says I'll suffer severe fibrosis which will make moving my neck difficult. [Please spare me the Al Gore jokes.] My only method to combat this will be intensive Physical Therapy -- probably for a couple years. A small plus is that the radiation will be aimed at my neck, not my throat, so some of the nastiness I endured on my 1st CRT should not happen. Also fortunate is the fact that my surgeon had the foresight to install a ring of small metal vascular clamps around the high-risk region; this will provide a target for my RO to aim at.

There doesn't seem to be too much else to say. My medical team says they were all surprised... in large part because my PET/CT scan before surgery was negative.

I guess this discussion no longer belongs on this "neck dissection" thread.

Rob