I was recently diagnosed with Stage 2 SCC on my left tongue, I don't think it qualifies as BOT as I can see it if I pull my tongue out (even though it's towards the back). So, I believe this qualifies as oral tongue. I'm still new here and coming up with questions to ask my doctor, so I apologize if I'm not using some of the correct terminology just yet.

My main concern about getting through all of this is my ability to speak normally afterwards. I depend on my ability to speak for a living, delivering presentations, training sessions, speaking with clients, etc.

My doctor plans to remove 1/3 of my tongue, and thinks I'll be able to return to work in 6 weeks or less.

I was curious to see other's experiences with a similar level of tongue removal. To me, 6 weeks seems kind of short if I need to go to speech therapy, etc.

So, my questions are:

1. How long in your experience did it take to speak to the point where people could consistently understand you?
2. Does the speech ever return to normal?
3. What exactly is involved in speech therapy...I hear a lot of references to it but nothing specific. Is it something you can only do with a specialist, or can you also do exercises at home to help?
4. How do people react to you if you do talk with a permanent lisp?

Thanks,
Gina