Hi John Paul,

I too had an unknown primary for my first bout with this disease. They did a neck dissection on my right side only and did not need to cut any nerves or muscles. They did, however, against my request, remove my submandible saliva gland. I had only one lymph node that showed any cancer and except for the met to the neck was bascially stage I. Primary never showed up. Especially if you are planning to follow this surgery with radiation, you might want to limit how much damage they are going to do to your body in surgery. If this is really an unknown primary, why the exploratory expodition? Just some more questions for your surgeon.

Are you being treated a a major cancer center, I hope. If not, I'd consider a second opinion.

Take care,
Eileen