2 years ago when I was 17 I was diagnosed with Muco epidermoid carcinoma was given the all clear around 3 months after diagnosis after a few operations I am now almost 20 and have been cancer free however recently these last few months I have had a couple of enlarged glands which showed up on my routine MRI so I was sent for an ultra sound and had to have a fine needle aspiration biopsy- I think that's what it's called , they couldn't really tell from the biopsy for definite , my consultant said its very rare for the type of cancer I had to spread to the lymp nodes or anywhere else in the body , of which makes me feel positive however I was also told the cancer for my age was rare so it's hard not to worry about that! Anyway to be on the safe side the consultant wants to remove the gland which they think its nothing but better to be safe than sorry and then at least they can do a proper biopsy, I gather quite a few people on here have had neck dissections and glands removed , so I was wondering what pain to expect , and also recovery times etc and swelling, I'm only having one gland removed now as it stands I do have another enlarged one but don't think there removing that . Thanks for your replies in advance

Gemma, I will attempt to assist you. Im a bit confused by your post. Maybe its because of the term glands instead of just calling them lymph nodes. If you have enlarged lymph nodes it does not make sense for the doctor to only remove one and not all that are enlarged. Lymph nodes are enlarged is a sign something is wrong, possibly an infection.

From what I understand of the procedure, the surgeon who removes lymph nodes will do so until they get several nodes past the enlarged one. If they are checking with frozen sections they will be better able to judge how many are needed to be removed. Think of it like a train with many cars, the diseased node spreads down the line of cars not skipping any just going right down the line. I really hope that makes it easier to follow! So when the surgeon has say 3 that are enlarged, they would normally remove those 3 and take the next few to ensure that the disease has not gone any further. Its not normal procedure to leave enlarged nodes when they are unsure of the situation as it may end up then causing you to have another surgery to remove the other nodes.

Some members have discussed the neck dissections being done which really arent necessary. If it were me, I would question them quite a bit more before I would agree to this surgery. I would probably seek out a second opinion first, especially if you may be having a recurrence.

Ive had a neck dissection and to me it wasnt a big deal. For others it really bothers them with stiffness in their neck and shoulder, some have pain and some have numbness. The neck dissection can affect a persons range of motion, many need physical therapy.

Best wishes!

Hi. Martin had 1 swollen lymph node and I think they removed 18. He had radical modified neck dissection which means they took the lymph nodes but left the muscle. He has a scar that goes from behind the ear down half of the neck and across to the adam's apple. He had around 20 or so staples. At first all was fine as he was numb there was no pain. But when the feeling started to come back the pain did. He has limited movement on that side of the neck but that's due to radiation scarring of the muscle (apparently). He has pain all over his shoulders but I think this is due to the over compensating of the other muscles and bad posture due to his neck pain. But with other people it is fine. So it really depends. But as Christine said I would ask questions.

I would get another opinion before I let someone cut something out of me. I agree that FNA's don't always draw up the cancer cells and sometimes removal of that node is necessary to perform a proper biopsy but before I let them do that I would see if I could get to a CCC (Comprehensive Cancer Center) for that 2nd opinion.