My boyfriend had a modified neck dissection, from what i gather, what makes it modified is that they kept the big muscle.
He was also of unknown primary although they did suspect the left tonsil (he also had that tonsil and a bit of the tongue removed but not much). he had a positive node but only one.
He had radiation that was part of a trial, targeting the whole area of neck nose throat and back of head, this type of radiation was also meant to minimise the long term damage to the taste buds and saliva glands. the latter seem to come back and go away especially the saliva, but it seems to be better now.
His neck is now un-numbing and is sore. he is going to ask for physio this week as the pain is pulling him forward and side ways, which is terrible for his back.
They didn't give us a choice for the radiation, well not a choice as such it was you either do this or your cancer will spread and ....
Needless to say we chose the neck dissection and radiotherapy.