He's out of surgery. They took about 40% of his tongue out which is more than we were expecting. We were never told an exact amount, but judging by what the doctor drew for us, it looked like 25% at first. We are bit in shock as the dr also removed branches of the carotid artery and jugular vein due to a node that appears cancerous. The road to recovery seems very long. They seem confident that all the cancer is out (fingers crossed) but speech and swallow therapy may be needed as well as physical therapy for his shoulder due to a pec flap. This is the second surgery in less than 6 months. I didn't expect to be back to this so soon, but it is quite scary and I know this will have a major affect on my fathers mental state of mind.

I'm venting a bit and getting off topic, but wondering how long it will take before he feels okay. I am hoping pain drops down soon and that we can see an improvement is speech and eating soon especially with the holidays quickly approaching.