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Let me first welcome you to OCF! Your question can not be easily answered over the internet by non-medical professionals. Every patient is slightly different and will respond to medications and procedures in their own unique way. Even if the tumor is very small, the surgeon will need to take a wide area around it to make certain they get every cell. Thats called getting clean or clear margins. Other factors include your overall health, how aggressive the cancer (if it is cancer?) is behaving, how quickly you heal to name a few. Too many variables, even age plays a role in how quickly a patient will bounce back. It could be anywhere from a few days of being uncomfortable thru a few weeks maybe even months for more involved cases. Most surgeons will not be able to thoroughly explain every single thing about a patients surgery prior to going in and seeing the whole situation while actually preforming the surgery. A piece of tissue from another area could be moved to your tongue and reconstructed (called a free flap). This would be even more involved and could be a very long surgery 8-10 hours or more is not unheard of around here. A neck dissection may also be needed.

Please take some time to read and educate yourself so you can be a strong advocate for yourself. If you can eat most foods at this time, do it. Eat all your favorites and spicy foods now. Dont concern yourself with gaining weight, most lose weight with this type of cancer. Your ability to eat could be compromised for hopefully only a very short time but you never know how fast someone can bounce back from this kind of surgery and if other treatments like radiation would be necessary then there would likely be more long term eating challenges.

If you havent already done so seek out a second or even third opinion. Surgeons always will recommend surgery, radiation oncologists say radiation is the way to go, etc. Just remember... when its gone its gone forever and cant be put back to ever be exactly the same as how it had been before the surgery.

Hang in there! Its always a scary time when waiting for surgery. Most patients get nervous and begin to worry about every single thing, especially the unknown and things beyond their control. Stay busy and work on learning about your illness. If you are having problems dealing with this or feeling overly anxious (completely normal for many OC patients), consult a therapist or doctor to help you manage your anxiety. We will be here to help you as much as you need.


Good luck!!!