thank you so much for your response! we are so confused about the doctor's statement as well.. up until now i was very impressed with him.. another thing that caught us off guard was that he told us that if he did have to take the voicebox, he would wake my DAD UP and ask him?! what?!!!! he said as far as he could see he can save the base of tongue and voicebox, but he wont know for sure until he goes in there.. as of right now he knows he has to take bottom jaw, about 1/3 of tongue (front) because that is where the cancer is.. its also on floor of mouth.. so if they have to take base of tongue, is that the whole tongue? sorry if im babbling.. thank you again!