I was diagnosed with the same SCC left lateral tongue. I elected to have surgery even though I was scared. The surgery wasnt easy however after a month most people couldnt even tell that I had surgery. I was talking normal and for the most part eating normal. You will lose a little mobility of your tongue, its hard for me to get stuff out of my teeth on the left side and all that has done is make me brush my teeth and floss more. I then found out it spread into my lymph nodes 2 months later when I had a CT and PET scan so I then decided to have the Neck Dissection and follow that up with Radiation. If you looked at me right now you would in no way have any idea that I just went thru hell and back and have only been done with radiation 5 weeks ago! Good luck with everything!