Just a quick update from me. Heading in for surgery Wednesday. Have been receiving some good news in advance. Pet scan and mri both came clean for lymph nodes. Doctor said he likely can close the wound down on my tongue without a flap, in which case they would have me trying mushed up food the next day. This surprised me as I thought it would be a week on a liquid diet. With a flap, it will take a little longer but doesn’t sound as bad as I thought. The speech therapist was quite optimistic. She said even people who get a big flap eventuality speak normally without much impairment. And if there is no flap, speech should be totally normal. This was also surprising for me. Of course, lots of stuff can happen but I’m entering it feeling better than I have been in a long time. I just have to cross my fingers that the nodes will come clean under the microscope so I can avoid radiation. And of course I worry about it coming back.