I made the decision to go with surgery and, at least so far, I'm glad I did. On May 17th I had about 60% of my tongue removed along with lymph nodes on both sides of my neck. They estimated that they were going to have to take more than that.I'm glad they were wrong. They got clear margins which made me very happy. One lymph node was swollen but showed no sign of cancer.I spent five days in the hospital, followed by a little over two weeks in an extensive care facility and now home. The extensive care facility was the only place around who would accept patients with trach tubes. I've been home for three days and just had my trach and feeding tube removed yesterday and started eating by mouth. I've lost almost 30 pounds in those three weeks because I couldn't tolerate the food they were giving me. Hopefully that trend will reverse now because I have radiation coming up. I don't need to lose more weight. One of my vocal cords was damaged but they said they can fix it if it doesn't heal on it's own. I only talk in a loud whisper because of the vocal cord but most people are able to understand me quite well. I'm pleasantly surprised at me enunciation. Gs do give me some trouble but I'm getting better with them. The scars on my face and neck are getting hard to see already. I know radiation could change things but right now, I'm happy with my progress. If someone had ask me how I was doing even a week ago, I would have said horrible and, at that time I was wishing I had just let the cancer run it's course. For anyone who is facing the same thing I can tell you, it's a really rough first few weeks. Brutal would be a good description. But, hang in there. Just as fast as it can move in a negative direction, it can start moving in a positive direction.