Hi NannyGranny -- we have a lot in common... I finished my radiation in January (for tongue cancer) and then they found a positive node in May. I had a radical neck on June 4 and begin another round of radiation tomorrow (along with some chemo this time).
I'm not sure how a "modified" radical neck will be different from my full-scale radical neck. In my surgery, they took out 30 nodes, a muscle (whose name I can't pronounce), some nerves and my jugular vein on that side.
Honestly, the biggest thing that has given me trouble (aside from a swollen throat from the breathing tube they used during the surgery) has been my shoulder and muscles all around it. Since they took out a muscle that connects my shoulder to my neck, everything else is all out of whack... I would ask a lot of questions about that, and if they are taking out the muscle, see about doing range-of-motion exercises as soon as you can. I didn;t do this, and I'm really paying the price now. It hurts almost all the time, sometimes pretty severly...
I have the same questions you do about the lack of nodes on that side and what that means for filtering cancer cells... WIll be interested to see what others say...
As for recovery and survival stuff, it's never a good sign to have the cancer move into your lymph system. But my docs are still using the word "cure" with me... I had one positive node out of the 30 they removed...
Is your positive node within the field of radiation from before? Ask your docs, too, about extra-capsular spread. My lymph node showed this, which shows that the cancer was "busting out" of the node and trying to find a new home. This is a sign of more aggressive cancer...
Best of luck to you in your upcoming surgery... God's blessings to you...
Eric