Seth,
I have had two neck dissections, two different surgeons, 4 years apart. In comparison to radiation, this surgery is a walk in the park, although it is still a long surgery. I was in the hospital for 5 days, and had no pain but looked like hell. However, the side effects can be bad depending on what muscles, nerves get cut. Make certain that the surgeon doing this has done so many 'that he can do them in his sleep'. You will most likely need several months of PT following the surgery to get you arm to work properly.

Ask your surgeon what muscles, nerves he will need to cut, if any, and what type of temporary and permanent side effects you will have. Do NOT let them remove your submandible saliva gland unless absolutely necessary. I have no permanent side effects from my second neck dissection, but still cannot get my arm over my head from my first. I also had a neuroma that took about 5 years to resolve which left my ear and neck numb on the right. I still cannot look over shoulder to the right so parallel parking is a problem. It is also possible that the dental surgeon caused my head rotation problem when he extracted my rear teeth. I don't remember complaining about that until after the dental surgery.

So it boils down to which sections is he going to remove and does he need to cut any muscles or nerves that are going to effect your ability to move your arms? That are many variations on neck dissections so find out which one you will have. Keep us posted.

Take care,
Eileen