In my case I had the neck dissection 3 months after the radiation. My ENT said that sometimes the radiation shrinks the lymph node down to normal, making the surgery unnecessary. A radiologist at the Univ of Iowa was bragging that he shrunk a 9 centimeter lymph node down to nothing. That didn't happen to me. My lymph node stayed the same size all the way thru. My ENT said that if it still shows up 2 months after the radiation, then he orders the surgery.