Good thing you are getting it removed. Not to make you think it could happen to you, leukoplakia does not always turn into cancer (I was told 1% do), but mine did. I had it along the right side of my tongue for 3 years. I finally developed a sore that wouldn't go away. A biopsy said squamous cell carcinoma. I had the surgery to remove it in February, partial glossectomy. I thought I might need speech therapy but did not. There was quite a bit of swelling and of course pain, I was on liquids only for about a week then tried more soft foods for a while. Honestly it wasn't that bad. I used a speech app at home for less than a week then I could talk pretty normally. For a while after that my tongue would get tired if I talked too much. You may want to take two weeks or so off of work depending how you feel. My tongue does not feel the same and it isn't as mobile as before but I have no problem with my speech, I sound the same and have no problem talking normally. Pretty much two weeks and you should be almost back to normal. Good luck to you!