HI there... okay - not to scare you... if you were only surgically treated there is a high incidence of recurrence - this being because this cancer can be quite aggressive and seed to the nodes and in it's early stages cannot be detected by a CT. I had a biopsy and CT that showed no spread, within three weeks a node popped up. When I had my surgery I had 40 nodes removed along with a 3rd of my tongue, and sure enough that node I had been feeling was full of cancer and had moved outside of it's encapsulated area. My dr. recommended me for radiation and chemo. Which I finished almost 2.5 years ago. Drs. have a tendency to think... great I got it all and the margins were clear - go home you're cured. However what tends to happen is a node will pop up shortly after and if you haven't been warned it may get left for too long - which can be deadly. This of course isn't 100 percent. Some people are blessed in that the removal of the area is all they need. Usually this is a stage one cancer. It depends a lot on the aggressiveness of the cancer as well. By the sounds of it either they were being cautious by taking a large amount (half a tongue) for bigger margins, or your tumor/lesion was quite large.

Did they do a neck dissection? If so then that's a good thing with this cancer. If it is HPV related (normally this kind is not) then that may be avoidable with radiation and chemo, but if it's non HPV related - then hopefully along with the surgical removal they also did the dissection.

If they did a dissection and that came back clear with clear margins on the tongue then that's the best scenario possible. Just keep a look out for any unhealing sores or lesions, and unusual lumps.

lichen planus can flare up from stress. hugs