Hello. I too had the same diagnosis as you. I had a 2cm tumor on the side of my tongue (non smoker / non drinker). Mine was well to moderately differentiated. I had the partial glossectomy and a bilateral (both sides) neck dissection. The others who have posted are right - the neck dissection is pretty easy to recover from. I am still numb around the incision and up towards the bottom of my chin, one ear is also partially numb - but other than that - recover has been quite easy for the neck. I was stiff and sore for maybe a week or two afterwards but probably had full use and ease of turning in 1-2 months. I had surgery on a wed and left the hospital on Sun. I'd advise you stay in until you can eat on your own. I did not have a feeding tube and so eating was very painful for the first week or two. Only liquid or semi liquid foods.
The tongue took quite a bit longer to heal. I had 20% of my tongue removed. You'll probably have similar. At first it was very swollen and that took several months to fully go away. (Also there was swelling in my neck area as well - but if you are only having one sided neck dissection - you might not experience that). My tongue was very sore for a long time and my speech was impacted for a couple of months. Although- everyone could understand what I was saying the day after my surgery - so it wasn't that bad. I am 8 months out now and my speech is back to almost 100%. I can still notice a difference and so can my mom - but most other people can't. I can feel a difference when I speak certain words still. My tongue is also numb on that side as I expect yours will be as well. And, that is kinda a pain b/c it is hard to get food off my teeth now - just means I have to brush more. Also, they removed salivary glands for me so I have a drier mouth now and sometimes that is not comfortable - but it isn't terrible.
I did not have radiation. My ENT (who I was already seeing for allergy/sinus problems) brought his partner in on the case and he did most of the surgery and my follow up visits are with the partner. It wasn't at a CCC, but he was trained at a CCC. He recommended no radiation after the surgery....however, I did go to a RO at a CCC for a second opinion and he also completely agreed and did not want me to have radiation at this point.
What I would do - is talk to a counselor or phsychologist before the surgery and have some follow up appointments already set up for afterwards. I didn't do that and really wish I had known to do it. I struggled through it on my own (not married and live by myself) and it was tough mentally. Still is. I also couldn't sleep for the 2 weeks leading up to my surgery and my oral surgeon (who did the biopsies) prescribed a sleeping pill for me for those two weeks and a short time afterwards. You might want to ask about it. You'll get so tired and upset if you have troubles sleeping like I did.
One other thing I forgot to mention - I had a CT scan before the surgery - and that didn't even show the tumor in my tongue (which was a stage II based on size)! So, the neck dissection is pretty standard I think - especially since a CT can miss things. I had a PET/CT about 2.5 months after the surgery to make sure it hadn't come back or spread. It was all clean.
Good luck to you.
