Thank you everyone for your responses! It is so helpful to know what to expect.
She is going home from the hospital today - with all tubes and stitches removed for now! smile She passed a swallow test and can currently consume clear fluids. Hopefully she will be able to move to mushy foods before we start rad tx so she can eat lots. No apparent causes for Spindle cell other than usual OC risk factors - it is very rare and doctors were baffled by it at first, took a long time to get a definite diagnosis. Apparently it is a very aggressive variant which is why they determined stage 3 (tumor grew SO fast) despite no regional spread or metastasis.

She is doing great physically so far, I'm mainly worried about keeping her emotionally positive and strong. Before surgery she did not realize just how painful and challenging this all would be.

I know her main priority needs to be getting healthy, but as my Dad is retired and she is their only source of income, she is very concerned about working. Did anyone manage to work while getting rad. tx? She will have 30 sessions of 15 mins to target affected area. Would it be crazy to try to work?

Mom diagnosed this month w/ stage 3 Spindle CC of left lateral tongue, T3N0M0, partial glossectomy, reconstruction w/ flap from inside mouth, neck dissection, lymph clear, to start rad. soon.