Kia ora to a fellow antipodean. I had my surgery at the end of October. They took a fair chunk of tongue - something that horrified me at first. Now I'm used to the idea and have found that it is not so uncommon - partly thanks to this site.

Moreover, my husband was having physiotherapy last week with a woman he had known for some time. He told her about my "hemiglossectomy" and reconstructive surgery. She had had the same thing when she was a young mother! He then thought he could detect a very slight speech defect - that was in retrospect so really doesn't count.

My advice is that you should enjoy your food and drink while you can before surgery because you might be on mush for a while afterwards.

All the best for your surgery.