Hi, MG, just wanted to add a note that my husband had a bilateral neck dissection [during his tumor removal surgery]. The drain to help control swelling was the only thing that really bugged him, as he d oesn't like being "hooked" to anything. His incision was closed with staples, and 1\2 were removed before he left the hospital. There was alot of swelling in his neck for a few weeks at home and some minor irritation at the incision, but we used lots of Aquaphor. We bought a good electric razor, which helped with sensitive area shaving.The rest of his staples were removed in a couple of weeks. The dissection did not interfere with eating. At the present time,almost 4 mo's after surgery, John's incision area is very hard, maybe numb[he can't tell] itchy because of stray hairs that are hard to see and shave, BUT not a major problem. In our experience, rad. tx's were much worse than the neck dissection. I think You will be O.K. Amy