Please forgive me as I have never used a message board before and have been searching the site to see how to start. I hope this is right. Today I am 2 weeks post surgery and doing extremely well. My eating is almost back to normal, however slow. I start physical therapy tomorrow for help with my left arm as a result of my neck dissection and lymph node removal. I consider myself to be very lucky as I am a dentist and discovered my scc at the earliest possible time. From biopsy (stage I, no nodes) to surgery, it was only 2.5 weeks. I spent 3 days in the hospital and and am progressing very rapidly. Other than off/on shooting pains in my ear and a pulling in my neck incision area, I am very comfortable. My new goal in life is to try to get the word out to the world about "early detection." I have already been in contact with The American Dental Asssoc. to see what I, as a dentist, can do with my recent experiences. I was amazed after speaking with a representatative, that I am the only dentist with scc that has contacted him in the 15 years that he has been there. Well, that is my story and I hope I am doing this correctly. I hope I will be able to find out if anyone has read and/or responded to this posting.