Jen,

I had the neck dissection before radiation, so I can't comment on what it would be like in reverse order. My surgery was about 5 hours in the OR, 24 hours in ICU and then another 4 days in the hospital before going home. I spent a couple of weeks recuperating at home and then started back to work part-time and was feeling pretty good by then.

My surgeon (who I guess was much more empathetic than yours) also gave me the standard list of caveats and what-ifs. While all the possible downside risks sounded fairly daunting, I ended up with only a slight reduction in neck motion over the long term.

Like many others here, I've concluded that surgery was the least difficult part of the overall cancer treatment -- hope it will be the same for you.

Cathy