Hey Laureanne, I had a similar surgery for SCC of the right side of my tongue back in April. I had half of my tongue removed and a portion of the floor of my mouth along with 60 lymph nodes from my right neck. I had an NG tube for feeding rather than the PEG and the donor site was my right thigh. I have to be honest with you the recovery time takes a while, but you need to keep in mind your tongue went through a lot of trauma. The good news is, you WILL heal. I know it seems very overwhelming but someone told me when I was in the early stages of recovery..."Rome wasn't built in a day." That strangely helped me cope...along with a positive attitude and love and support from family and friends. Since my surgery I have had 30 radiation treatments and to be honest the radiation was 10 times harder to deal with than the surgery itself. If you can stay away from radiation do so! BUT if doctors feel it is necessary that you do what you need to do like I did. My last radiation was Aug 17th and I am still having swelling problems and as of late I may have what is called Trismus which is sort of like lock jaw, I can only open my mouth about an inch. Only enough to fit one finger in. What I am trying to say is, your body will recover just fine, of course it varies from person to person but keep your head up and most importantly relax the best you can and stay POSITIVE. It really is a big factor in the healing process. I feel fortunate today to be here and in the end that is all that matters. My speech is coming back slowly without any speech therapist (even though most people disagree not having one) and I am on my way back to living my life again. I wish you the best and just want you to know that if I can do it you can too. Have faith in yourself. And best wishes to a speedy recovery.