Terry,

I had a neck dissection and partial glossectomy at the same time and was in the hospital for about 5 days. (I had surgery first, then radiation starting about a month later, so I can't comment specifically about what it's like to have surgery following radiation.)

Like most of the people here who have had both surgery and radiation, I found that surgery was much easier to cope with and recover from. I was able to go back to work within about 2 1/2 weeks after surgery. While I had some swelling and numbness in my neck and jaw for awhile, everything eventually healed very well -- all the nerves seem to have regenerated long ago and I have had full sensation in those areas for years.

Regarding the recent sore spot in your mouth -- since you've just had radiation not long ago, it doesn't take much to irritate the inside of your mouth. Many of us have found that something like the rough edge of a tooth was rubbing against the tongue or inside of the cheek and causing spots like that to occur. If that's what is happening in your case, you may want to have it filed down or otherwise dealt with to remove the irritation.

I hope your surgery goes well -- please stay in touch and feel free to keep asking questions.

Cathy