goodmorning amy,
I had a radical neck dissection on Jan 11 and had 22 lymph nodes removed also. I had asked my doctor how many lymph nodes a person has in that area, my surgery was only on one side, he said that everyone is different but generally between 15- 25, the bigger your neck the tendency is to have more, he spoke of a patient who had a very fat, thick neck whom he removed 53 from one side. I had my surgery after radiation and chemo and I am experiencing "wood neck", very stiff and feel like it is being pulled when I move my head and neck to the right, but I massage it every day and try to exercise my neck and jaw muscles daily, I still am numb from my ear lobe, face along my jaw line , neck and sholder, and the cold here on the shores of lake ontario are really bothersome on my neck, however I do feel improvement daily (real or imagined- I have convinced myself that this cancer is gone for good, 1 in 22 nodes had cancer and that one was known before surgery) hang in there my dear amy and continue to ask questions and continue to fight.
always lenny