Dan had a radical neck dissection Christmas eve. They were not able to get all the tumor and it was attached to his carotid artery and pathology shows it in the wall of the jugular up the base of the skull. No clear margins can be obtained through further surgery, so he is getting set up for mega chemo/rad. Trouble is he has to wait at least 3 weeks to heal from the radical neck dissection. He has a very aggressive SCC that grows fast. Besides the pain from the neck dissection, he has bad pain in his face/head and he says he can feel the cancer even though he is taking percocet and mophine patch.
Any information anyone can give would be helpful. This is so discouraging since he just had his tongue cancer only 5 months ago with modified neck dissections on both sides being negative.
Thanks for any input.
Debbie

Debbie/Caregiver/wife of Dan, diagosed with SCC tongue, Stage II/III, 1/3 tongue removal, lymph node dissection both sides of neck, skin graph 7/30/03. Left tumor found - radical left neck dissection 12/24/03. Could not get all of tumor/wrapped around carotid artery and in wall of jugular. 1/12/04 beginning of 6 doses of Taxol/Cistoplatin once a week, and rad 70 gray 5 days a week/6 weeks.