I had a similar surgery as your husband probably will have. For me, the right side of my tongue and neck. They took the whole right half of my tongue, and 40 lymph nodes from the right side of my neck.

Did they biopsy lymph nodes? Cuz they usually don't say it is for sure in the lymph nodes until they biopsy them.
But my doc, as well as many other docs, may follow this surgery with radiation, due to spread to lymph nodes, and depending on deepness.

Mine went from top to bottom of my tongue, so I guess you could say it was deep, . I also had perineural invasion, which means the cancer ran along/around my nerves, and because of how deep it was, plus spread to lymph nodes was why they chose to do radiation.

Surgery was a lot easier then radiation, but wasn't a cake walk. For me, I was in for 8 days, and had a about 10 hour surgery using the free-flap transplant from left wrist/forearm to recreate tongue, and 40 lymph nodes pulled during right side neck dissection. Also had a tracheostomy, and NG tube (feeding tube that goes in through nose, through digestive tract, into stomach). Those are both pretty much a guarantee, the feeding tube (whether it be a NG tube or a PEG tube) and tracheostomy as we are sometimes on a ventilator after such a major surgery.

My pain was always kept under control from surgery, it was radiation that it was difficult to manage, but every one is different for everything. Healing times, way they respond to meds, and how things heal.

I have pictures if you are interested, but best advice I can give you, is bring a notebook. Have any questions you can think of before your appointment written down, and bring them with you in the notebook, and write the answers down. That was a big help for me through it all. Also something for him to write on for communication after surgery would be a good idea. My hospital had a little dry erase board and marker i could use, but i was constantly have to erase that thing, due to tracheostomy, you can't talk unless they plug it. Thats the type I had. This doesnt mean your experience will be the same as mine. Many people get a special trach that allows them to talk without a problem.

Not trying to scare you by any means. If I did I am sorry I was just telling you my story which will be different than yours. If you have any questions, let me know. Where is he being treated at, and where do you live? One more question, do you know the date of his surgery yet?

I am sorry you had to find this site, but I am glad you did, it was a huge help for me, and I hope it is for you and your husband!