I just finished my rad and chemo and expect to have the neck dissection in a few weeks. I had two nodes removed 1 that found the cancer because the fine needle aspiration did not show it. My neck swelled tremendously after the surgery so I was worried that it was bleeding. Went to the emergency room and my ENT thought that I might be as well. I had emergency surgery and turned him down on the Neck dissection then because I had only been diagnosed for 3 days. I had no idea what was going on yet. Anyway I wasn't bleeding so he removed another enlarged node that was also cancerous. I then found a cancer treatment senter and a team of docs. They decided to do the rad and chemo first because after they did a tonsillectomy and took biopsies of my tongue ect. They were trying to find a primary so the rad could be more pinpointed. The found it in the left tonsil. As soon as I healed enough we started the treatment. My understanding was due to the removal of the first and second node concerned them as far as the amount of metastisies as well as spillage. It had also been 3 months since I found the first node swollen. To do the dissection first would have put the rad and chemo even later. They wanted to start killing the cancer and do the dissection to get what was left or atleast remove the places that it would be most likely to return. I asked for very aggressive treatment. I have a 30 month old and a wonderful wife that I want to spend lots of time with. Now this is my understanding of the course of treatment and I may be way off, I haven't specifically addressed this with my docs but intend to at the next meeting with my surgeon next week. Good luck.