Hi Claire - So glad you found this forum. Sounds like you are in the right place for some quality care and how great that your team of doctors did such a good job explaining everything . My son had 1/6 of his tongue removed and right after surgery, the doctor came and explained everything that happened and also mentioned that the tongue "regenerates" itself. It probably depends of course on how much is removed. Other information I read re this is that the tongue spreads out to fit the space it finds itself in. Right after surgery, my son communicated with his laptop because of the soreness, and he only had a slight lisp for a very short time after that and no trouble with speech. He's doing just great, now! I'm sure you will, too.