My husband just had a neck dissection & BOT lesion removed at same time. To be honest, the neck dissection didn't bother him at all. It looked a bit gruesome but has healed nicely. Any issues he had with swallowing, pain, etc stemmed from lesion removal. And even that was not nearly as bad as we thought it might be. He was back to work a week after surgery. He did say just last night that he keeps thinking his collared shirt is buttoned when it's not as he has some tightness & numbness on neck but that is it & he is only 3 weeks out of surgery. Crossing our fingers that he does as well with the radiation!!

Good luck to you!