Patty,

There have been people that have had their whole tongue removed. Hopefully some of them will post a reply for you. I do remember reading that if the base of the tongue is left, people can speak, but I don't know how well. There are also tongue transplants being done in other countries. It is very new and not likely to be an option in the USA any time soon, but is something to keep in mind for the future.

As for cutting the jaw, Heather had that done and it wasn't as bad as one might think. She did get severe trismus (lockjaw), but we learned later that it wasn't entirely from the surgery. It was also from the second tumor, which hadn't been detected yet.

Have the doctors discussed radiation and chemo as an alternative to surgery? It might not be a viable option for oral melanoma. But I do know that in SCC cases where they don't think they can get all the cancer with surgery, they often do chemo and RAD instead. If they haven't mentioned it, I would certainly ask. Has he seen a chemo or RAD oncologist? Hang in there and try to take care of yourself, too.

Rainbows & hugs,
Rosie