Gayle, I was a non-smoker and non-drinker when I contracted tongue cancer. But I did have lichen planus, a usually harmless skin/mucosa condition, for many years before diagnosis. Whatever the cause, it is a very hard surgery to deal with. I had a lot of abdominal surgery when I was younger but nothing prepared me for the multiple tubes of oral surgery and reconstruction. Thank goodness you are past that stage. The wounds on arm and thigh generally take about 6 weeks to heal enough to forget about them if I remember rightly.
Are you eating normally again? Are they giving you radiation in due course?
You are not alone. A lot of us here have been rehabilitated after tongue surgery.
I went back to teaching about six months after my hemiglossectomy. It was doable but I hated reading the notices first thing in the morning because it used to take a long time for my tongue to warm up.
Best wishes
Maureen