My treatment ended 3/05 and the neck dissection on 4/05. Originally I tried the physical therapy at the CCC only to be somewhat disillusioned at the outcome. The reason I discontinued was it was a horrid distance to drive for what I got out of it. A friend tipped me off to a local physical therapy place five minutes away and I asked my doctor for a new referral. This way if the therapy is painful, I can take pain medication and still be able to drive myself the short distance to and from.

I'm kinda running into the same problem as the last place. They don't know quite what to do with me to "improve" me. The therapist I met with today has been doing physical therapy for 25 years, but she told me honestly that she's only had three or four patients with neck surgery like mine.

Here is the question that I most need answers for. What I hope to achieve is more range of motion with my neck. My husband remarks that my posture is getting stooped and I tend to pull towards the left side where the incision is. Basically, I hope to get rid of this awful "stiffness" which really isn't pain, it's just stiff radiating from below my chin clear to the back of my shoulders. It's not that I'm "uneducated" but I am aware that several muscles were removed during the neck dissection. It was never mentioned that one of my arteries was removed until last Friday when they were checking over the CT scan.

Granted, I've had my fill of bad news this year and I felt a bit deflated when the therapist told me that she really didn't know if they could improve on this scar tissue issue. They are going to try massage and water therapy.

Perhaps I am expecting WAY too much, but I'm willing to work at being somewhat normal again. I've even been contemplating yoga and possibly weight training to get some flexibility and muscle mass back.

I know basically nill about physical therapy and what might be successful at getting back some of the range of motion in my neck. Hopefully, someone here who is more educated can give me some pointers on what might be successful.

Also, since so many of you have been through this, I wonder if anyone stepped up into exercise or gym work just to get muscles again. At first I figured I shouldn't be burning calories that I'm so desperate to keep on, but really, I'm sick of being "weak" and fragile.

Jen