That sounds very conservative. I believe most people here who have had surgery have had much more than that taken out. I personally had about 40-50% of my tongue taken out, which is honestly not as scary as it sounds. I'm just about a month post op and I'm already at a point where everything I say can be understood clearly, it just sounds like I have a lisp. The carcinoma on my tongue did not cover 40-50% of my tongue, but they wanted to be aggressive and make sure they got all of it. I'm surprised to hear how conservative they were with you. If there is no surgery being planned to remove the rest, I would think there was another plan of action since sitting around knowing the cancer is there and doing nothing doesn't sound logical. Have you thought of getting a second opinion?