Hello JenW,
Welcome to the forums, and sorry to hear of your recent cancer diagnosis.
It sounds like Nels would be an active leader on the boards here who has been down the road you are looking at (and a bunch of other folks who may not be so active any more).
My surgery was on so small a lesion no graft material of any sort was required, and no chemo or radiation either, so I can't offer you answers myself.
As I recall Nels' experience the healing from the radiation was more harsh than surgery.
A lot of it depends on the specific surgery, specific portion(s) of tongue they have to remove.
They also have different types of radiation, and different doses, different schemes etc...
Nels would probably tell you go out and enjoy your favorite foods now, pack on a few pounds and enjoy eating (if you can with your biopsy site recovery and/or the remaining tumor perhaps making eating "less than fun").
Not sure if you have seen any of the groups on Facebook and or Reddit yet, but the Reddit one is quite active.
It seems the Reddit one is often more anecdotal experiences, and less self-moderated, but there are a lot of active daily users, just have to take everyone's input with a grain of salt, and use the information as spring board to ask your doctors and medical folks.
Glad you have a support network forming around you, that's so crucial.
Stay motivated, and keep the good fight, I hope and pray your treatment plans go well with great success and endurable suffering as you recover and work through the radiation/chemo therapies.
R/
CQ
