I also lost about 40% of my tongue from my run-in with cancer on my tongue 8 years ago. I was very motivated to speak normally again, as most of my employment comes through speaking (I'm a minister and a teacher). As far as I can tell, most people don't have trouble understanding me, though I know that there are certain sounds that I still have trouble with and probably always will. It's almost impossible to lose that much of your tongue and not have speech issues. I only hope that I can continue to speak as well as I do, without regretting that I don't speak as well as I used to.

As for eating, I was very motivated to eat normally (or almost normally), which I was able to do shortly after my surgery. As Brian said, there are issues moving food around and trouble with food in the back of my throat. I also eat much more slowly than I used to and always need to have water handy. Spicy food, really hard food, or really gooey food are difficult, if not impossible.

But, for the most part, I eat normally, and am very thankful for that, since there are many oral cancer survivors who are not able to eat normally.