Thanks, people. I have now had my check up in Auckland (I'm in NZ) and all went pretty well except that my flap is still too swollen for me to have any speech and swallowing therapy. It has pushed the native tongue to the side.

Now, I am brave enough to cope quite calmly with cancer (this is a recurrance of my second cancer) but I'm too much of a sook to actually look at my tongue. I was the same to some extent after my previous tongue surgery. So I didn't know how swollen it was. The surgeon insisted I look at it to avoid brushing it with my toothbrush - I have been told! When I looked, I found that the flap was much bigger than it feels.

I'm quite able to look at my wrist which still looks like raw meat but the tongue is such an intimate and personal part of the body. It's not clearly visible so it can sort of be ignored.

I have much to be thankful for in that I do not need RT and I just need to be patient about the swelling and get to know my new tongue by sight not just feel.

Best wishes