I am sorry to hear about your diagnosis. I had the same surgery on April 22, 2015 but to the right side of my tongue and neck. Luckily, they found nothing in the lymph nodes and I did not need chemo or radiation. I go for f/u appts every 4-6 weeks and will for I believe another few months, then maybe move to every 8-10 weeks. I go a bit more frequently than the oncologist actually believes is necessary, but I figure better to have an appt pending then call the guy every time I think I see something and get paranoid!
With all that being said, I can honestly tell you that the surgery and aftermath were no where near as bad as I had anticipated. I went home from the hospital the day after surgery. My mouth felt sore and fragile, and my neck just felt numb. My right arm felt weird and needed a couple of weeks to get it's strength back. But it really wasn't as bad as I was getting ready for. It was very do-able! I got some of those smoothie juices (Naked Juice) and some protein powder and would put about 1/2 the juice and a scoop of powder into a jar and shake it really good and slowly sip that throughout the day. I would have several per day. I had to wait about 10 days for the pathology results and they came back clear! I couldn't believe it, so hopefully you will luck out too. Since they said Stage I, I would think that is a definite possibility. Well, nothing you can do about the time gone by, so don't even sweat it. I smoked for years and can't change that. Why agonize over it? What's done is done. I hope it all goes well for you and like I said, it really was do-able. Good luck to you and keep us posted. Denise