I had a modified radical neck dissection last August - I was 52 at the time and in very good health. I had 42 or so lymph nodes removed from the left side of my neck. I also had a tonsil removed at that time.

After the procedure and recovery room I went to my semi-private room - no ICU. The cut went from under the front of my chin back to my ear then down my shoulder. I had two drain tubes - one high and one low.

The after-effects of tonsil surgery really hurt, but the ND didn't feel too bad - probably due to a lot of numbness from my left shoulder up through the left side of my head (a good amount of which is now gone). I think I stayed in bed the first day, but was up and about the next day. I left the hospital 2 days after surgery (surgery was Tuesday morning and I checked out Thursday before noon).

I don't see how the ND will cause trouble with removing phlem.

The recovery from the ND has been a little slow, although not terribly difficult. I took long daily walks after release from the hospital, even with the drains still in place. Stitches and drains came out 6 days after surgery. It took a long time to loosen up the neck muscle that was cut during the ND, with some stiffness remaining (I still do daily neck stretches). My left shoulder gets fatigued fairly easily and still droops a little - but it too is getting better with daily exercise.