I had a partial neck dissection and partial glossectomy, followed by rads and chemo. I found the surgery to be a lot easier to recover from than the rads and chemo. In fact, if all I had was the neck dissection and glossectomy I could have gone back to work in a month. It was the rads and chemo that really took their toll with me.

Female, nonsmoker, 70, diag. 5/09 after tongue biopsy: stage IV. Left hemi-gloss. and left selec. neck disec. 30 lymph nodes removed May 20. Over 7 weeks daily rads. with three chemo. PEG removed 12/4/09 Am eating mostly soft foods. Back to work 11/09 Retired 4/1/11. 7 clear scans! Port out 9/11. 2/13. It's back: base of tongue, very invasive
surgery involving lifestyle changes. 2/14: Now speaking w/Passey-Muir valve. Considering a swallow study. Grateful to be alive.