My mother had the modified radical neck and a feeding tube in her stomach installed on the same day. She was 78 at the time and was only in the hospital for one night. Unfortunately that was followed a few weeks later by 8 weeks of chemo/radiation. The surgery was the easy part...radiation is what really tore her up.
But she came through that as well and after even more surgery a month in the hospital this time she is at home and doing pretty well considering the last year. She lives alone and gets along fairly well.