BlueJay,
I had the exact same surgery as both Cheryld and Tina....75% of my tongue was replaced with a hunk of tissue,artery, etc from my forearm. That was 2 years ago and I am doing great.
The surgery was a breeze when compared to radiation treatments. You should recovery very nicely from the flap using your own tissue.
As others have said, don't wait too long...most SCCs are quite aggressive.
Best of luck to you.

DX 12/6/10 of T3 SCC Tongue.
Surgery 1/3/11 was hemigloss & forearm free flap, midline mandibulectomy, Neck Disection-All nodes clear.
Ended rads 5/11/11. Taste buds back to about 80%. PEG removed 4/5/12, experimenting eating real food again. If I can do this, so can you !! Stay Strong.