Neck dissection coming

jeepman
jeepman Member Posts: 109
in Head and Neck Cancer #1
Hi everyone,

Sorry that I haven't posted in a while, but all is well. Had my first post treatment and yep, false positives....
My ENT surgeon wants to go ahead and take out the involved lymphnodes on my right side of neck. So here we go on 6 October. Everyone has said that this is nothing compared to the tonsillectomy/BOT excission. I will pray for that.

I will keep you guys posted as things go on.

Thoughts and prayers to you all,

Mike

Comments

  • Hondo
    Hondo Member Posts: 6,636 Member
    #2
    Hi Mike
    Hope it all goes well and don't get depressed about those false positive reading, just another door in life that must be opened.

    Oct 6, will keep you in prayer
    Hondo
  • NW DINO
    NW DINO Member Posts: 31
    #3
    Neck dissection
    Mike -

    Good luck with the procedure on October 6th! Did the false positives show up on your 1st PET scan? Also had BOT with a neck dissection prior to treatment about 1 year ago.
    It is a relatively straight forward surgery without much discomfort at all. You may not be able to take a full shower for a couple days as to not get the bandage wet.

    Dino
  • adventurebob
    adventurebob Member Posts: 691
    #4
    Thoughts and Prayers
    Lifting you up on the West Coast Mike. Go get it!

    AB
  • jim and i
    jim and i Member Posts: 1,788 Member
    #5
    praying
    Praying all goes well and quick healing.

    Debbie
  • sweetblood22
    sweetblood22 Member Posts: 3,228
    #6
    Mike
    Good luck with the neck dissection. Will write down October 6th and keep you in prayer.
  • Skiffin16
    Skiffin16 Member Posts: 8,305 Member
    #7
    Cut Above the Rest
    Thoughts & Prayers brother......

    Just another step in the road, that I'm sure you'll handle just fine.

    Best,
    John
  • gibkoch
    gibkoch Member Posts: 19
    #8
    Just got done ...
    Mike, I just went through the same scenario on Sept 9, 2011. Surgery on BOT and neck dissection due to high SUV readings from my post treatment PET. Turns out BOT was a false positive, lymph node was still cancerous. After going through treatment last spring, neck dissection was a breeze. My neck, ear, cheek, etc. are still numb but am believing that when the nerves come back, the pain will be mostly manageable. I will pray for you Oct 6th for a successful surgery and clear results.

    God Bless You.

    Gib
  • luv4lacrosse
    luv4lacrosse Member Posts: 1,410 Member
    #9
    NECK DISSECTION
    I definitely thought the neck dissection was much easier to recover from.

    You will do fine.

    Mike
  • ratface
    ratface Member Posts: 1,337 Member
    #10
    luv4lacrosse said:

    NECK DISSECTION
    I definitely thought the neck dissection was much easier to recover from.

    You will do fine.

    Mike

    Things to consider
    It sounds like you are having a selective neck dissection on the right side. Congrats on choosing the procedure as it statistically can reduce the chance of recurrence by 22 percent. It's the right choice. It however is not called a 'neck dissection' for nothing. You will read here that folks complain that their doctors don't always mention the side effects of treatment. The neck dissection can have many side effects or it can for the most part be very manageable. There are at least three major nerves which can be disturbed and sometimes that is all it takes to cause complications. There is a slight possibility you could lose movement of your arm over your head. As mentioned, numbness from severed nerves will more than likely be with you for the rest of your life. You will also experience some stiffness and varied mobility for the rest of your life. Lymphedema and scarring are inevitable. Choose a surgeon who has performed hundreds of these procedures. If the procedure is to be done in a teaching hospital you want to have a conversation with the surgeon prior to the procedure and illicit a promise from the surgeon that he/she will do the cutting. The students can watch all they want. Is it worth the risks for an extra 22% on the stat side? I thought so. Best of luck.
  • Goalie
    Goalie Member Posts: 184
    #11
    luv4lacrosse said:

    NECK DISSECTION
    I definitely thought the neck dissection was much easier to recover from.

    You will do fine.

    Mike

    Sticking my Neck Out
    I agree with the other posters that the neck dissection was, in many ways, the easiest of the procedures.

    It "hurt" only for a few days, physically anyway. Within days the tubes came out and within a week or so the stitches came out (they leave them longer if you are post-radiation). The stark redness was gone within the month and a couple of months later was almost unnoticeably different in color. Six months later, the scar from ear to adam's apple is almost invisible given other wrinkles. My surgeon is head of ENT surgery at Georgetown and a master. Yes, the continued lymphedema is annoying. I was never Kirk Douglas but I did used to have a chin.

    That said, the psychological pain of having these tubes coming out of the neck and draining into a bag pinned to my chest was a little more disconcerting. For three days it was best not think about this. There is a pretty scary picture on our caringbridge site: dougiebaker. But, literally, this was only for a few days.

    Again, I have been luckier than most on this as well as everything else. He did a modified dissection in which he cut no nerves, just pushed them around a bunch to get at what he wanted. In the end it was 26 lymph nodes out, 25 of which were never cancerous and one big one that was dead.

    Also in the end, because it was much less radical, the numb ear and jaw faded fairly easily over a few months as the nerves recovered from the bruising. Now the numbness is barely noticeable but sort of useful like the other night when I took a slap shot to that side of my face mask. I eventually got back some 90+% of neck movement and have no shoulder or other impairments. But, I grant you, this is because my procedure was a lot less than some people had; I'm not trying to sound heroic, just present a best case scenario. May you be so lucky.

    Besides being 22% better off as Ratface suggests, the emotional relief of hearing this hands-on physical confirmation via biopsy, as opposed to a scan, was well worth any discomfort. Be confident and let's keep talking, Doug
  • Husker Fan
    Husker Fan Member Posts: 65
    #12
    Keep stretching!
    Neck dissection was by far easier then the tonsillectomy (TORS) for me, but it is surgery and a lot of cutting and gluing. Just keep stretching and messaging when they tell you, you can and it will get better.

    Prayers your way,

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