Hi to All, My husband is now 6 months post-op from having his modified radical neck dissection, which was done on 2/6/03. I was told to expect swelling and hardening of the soft tissue in the neck and throat - which has definitely been the case for him. My question is: After 6 months, his throat and neck are still very hard/solid to the touch - and is still making eating very difficult at times. It feels "constricting" in his throat - like someone was "tightening a belt" around his neck. I would think after this much time has passed - things would start to get better. Is this considered "normal" or common from anyone's personal experience? His doctor keeps telling him that things are going OK, and that he just has to "give it time"! How much more time?! This is nerve-wracking and there's got to be something more I or my husband can do to help this problem. He does take 2 Vitamin E capsules internally every day along with 2 Flaxseed Oil caps as well. Also topically I massage on oil or some kind of vitamin-enriched cream. Nothing seems to help. Any advice? Thanks for your help.

Hi Donna, there wound up a pretty good discussion about this in WZ's thread below about "Neck Dissection before Radiation"

Seems a whole bunch of us are having the same problem to varying degrees. First surgery for me was last Sept, still tight around the neck muscles on the left side, more so even then on the right side which got dissection in April this year.

I don't know if eventually it sorts itself out, hope so though. Suspect its a combination of healing, fluid buildup, and just plain old damage from the surgery and radiaton. For me, while it's not debilitating, it's just darn uncomfortable all the time. I did notice that increased activity seems to aggravate it though.
Bob S.

I had my surgery Aug 2002 then had 33 radiations with concurrent weekly chemo. In Oct 2002, I had a deep neck abscess so the surgeon re-open (2") to drain the pus. The incision site hardened and stay that way until today. Until May 2003, I had lymphoedema under my chin, after the edema is gone, the neck became tighter and tighter (I am very concerned about this because I thought it should be the other way).

Anyway, I am 1 year out surgery and my neck hardness did not get better at all. In the first few months, it is just tight ("like someone is tighting a belt around my neck"), all doctor told me it is normal, now it feels like someone stuck a wood chip or gulf ball under my chin, and my ENT said "it lasted longer than others'. Now, I started to have more difficulty to turn left/right, up/down. If I tried too hard, it aches. It is nerve-wracking, I am working with my ENT these days to see what is wrong.

Thanks for the info. I don't know what to make of this whole "tight neck thing" - but WZ, I hear where you're coming from. John also has that same uncomfortable feeling under his neck besides the tight/hard feeling - kind of like a ball stuck in the throat feeling. It's hard for me to describe exactly what he's feeling - but I do my best to visualize how that must feel internally for him. I just know that his throat is rock hard as can be...and like everyone else, I thought it would get somewhat better by now! The doc, as I mentioned is not concerned about this, but it's so frustrating for both of us. I know this definitely effects his intake of food and what kind of food he eats, but thankfully - at least all those doggone mouth sores have gone away! (those pesky things seemed to linger forever). Anyways, it's comforting to know that John isn't the only one still experiencing this problem, and perhaps one day - maybe the lymphatic system will finally find it's new "route"! (gotta keep hope alive). I think also what makes it worse for John is that he had the surgery AFTER the radiation (and chemo) which I'm sure toughened up the area/tissue of the neck. I hope things get better for you both and WZ, if your ENT comes up with any "revelations" on how to handle this - do share!! Take care.

Hi WZ,

Question...the deep neck abscess and edema that you had...can you please tell me more about that ?...I am trying to understand what my sister is going through with her neck...it feels like it will never go away or get better. She cannot have surgery though. We asked why they couldn't drain her neck and face where she has all this pus and swelling... but, they won't, not sure maybe it's a fear of infection I guess. They said it's the tumor in the way so, it can't drain. So we wait. She was having facial massage, but, had to stop for a while. Did it Help? Not sure. She may have to do it on a regular basis. It crazy! She can't see by the end of day because she is so swollen! Any advice? Thanks and Take Care Flo XoX

Flo,

As far as lymphoedema, I think most of mine is gone, it took 8 months after the ending of radiation. However, the swelling is still off and on, more on than off, the face still get puffy from time to time, as long as it did not get infected, I started to treat it as normal, because the doctors really do not worry about that.

I cannot remember how many infections I had to this date, it will come every 5 to 6 weeks. The first bout, I had to go to hospital to draing the pus, the second time the doctor used a syringe (spell ?)sucting it out, then I became more alert to ask for antibiotics when I felt something is wrong.

I was told that for abscess, it can be drained, because it was collected in a pocket. For lymphoedema, it cannot be drained because it was distributed in the soft tissues. I tried massage, did not work for me, naybe my surgery is way too aggressive, the doctor got more than 70 lymph nodes out from my left neck. I noticed most people only lost 30 to 40 of them.

Well, I am still fighting this face swelling, tight neck, hard throat issue, will keep you posted.