Ben

Neck dissection & lymph node removal is another area where IMO the general tenor of discussion on OCF needs more balance. FACT: It's a bad thing to have healthy lymph nodes taken out.
I've remarked before on how sad it is to read posts celebrating having 10 or 20 or more lymph nodes taken out with 90% or more of them turning out healthy.
It reminds me of the women who advocate having their entire breasts removed, even ones without cancer, because they'd rather be "safe than sorry". Of course everyone is entitled to acting on their own risk level.
This is just a reassurance that you may only have needed 3 lymph nodes taken out.
I was lucky that my surgeon kept up on all the new studies and she was confident that the radiation and chemo had taken care of the two lymph nodes that had had cancer. Other doctors do neck dissections automatically because that is what they taught them in the 20 century. She explained how important it is for a cancer survivor to have a robust immune system and how the lymph nodes are a major factor in that.
When the cancer did come back and I had to have massive surgery, she did recommend a modified neck dissection. Sure enough, the pathology report showed that those two lymph nodes were now totally necrotic tissue with no evidence of cancer. I did lose multiple healthy lymph nodes on all 5 levels but it's a given that neck dissections always involve such destruction. OCF has a good description of the types of neck dissection: OCF ND More doctors are going the selective route as it seems your doctor did.
Again, this is a subject like PEGs that people feel strongly about and one on which Doctors and surgeons disagree. In the end, you have to trust your doctor. If their doctors believe in taking out as many lymph nodes as possible, then that becomes some posters belief also. It doesn't make it true however for other patients. Just some reassurance.
Charm