CancerCompass message board discussion started by Scared50 on 4/6/2008 http://www.cancercompass.com/message-board/message/all,22752,0.htm Thu, 04 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT Thu, 04 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://backend.userland.com/rss RSS.NET: http://www.rssdotnet.com/ I have been here before but not for awhile.  My husband had squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck with occult primary.  He had some treatment 2 years ago after he found a large lymph node in his neck.  In January it recurred.  He went to Hopkins and they did a bilateral neck dissection.  They removed 76 lymph nodes and 3 were cancerous.  Most of the swelling has gone down.  However, both sides of his neck have gotten very hard.  Is this normal after this kind of surgery?  Will it go away?  We are not supposed to see the Hopkins doctor for 2-3 months.  This is a long way for us to go if the "hard neck" is normal and will eventually go away.  I appreciate any feedback.  Scared50 Sun, 06 Apr 2008 00:00:00 GMT I believe it is a normal side effect. I've heard alot of people have physical therapy after a dissection to keep the neck/head fluid & moveabe. I had a right neck dissection and felt lucky to have retained most of my mobility. But I do have stiffness, and sometimes soreness. How is the skin itself? I massage mine with lotion everyday, in an attempt to keep the skin supple and to minimize scar tissue. I think it depends on what else was removed during the dissection, too-just lymph nodes? Or nerves, or seins, too? I definitely would at least contact the surgeons office to get advice on what to start now! Best of luck, Gayle gayleann Mon, 07 Apr 2008 00:00:00 GMT