Sounds like BOT, which is different, and treated differently than oral tongue, and more likely to be HPV related. BOT (oropharyngeal) can be a pesky cancer, difficult to treat, due to its deep vasculature, high lymphatics, and access to lymph nodes. p16 staining, a tumor suppressor protein, used by some institutions to identify HPV-16 positivity, is usually the case, but not always, in case it is the oral tongue, and p16 positivity, HPV negativity by other testing, can mean a more aggressive cancer. I would find out which it is oral tongue vs BOT. Early stage oropharyngeal cancers can be treated with surgery or radiation, but most are late stage, and treated with radiation and or Chemoradiation also.

Good luck with everything.