Well, one partial glossectomy later (I had my op on the 17th October) and here we are! My lesion was right at the back of my tongue on the left hand side and my surgeon was amazing. I'd been warned that because it was so far back he'd probably have to go in through my jaw, but I woke up, face intact!! So, here is how it's going for me, just in case there's anyone else out there with back-of-your-tongue cancer. I saw my dentist for a routine appointment, I mentioned my tongue. It's so far back that she really had to poke about to find it, spotted it and said 'Lisa, I'm taking photos and sending them to the hospital'. She was right, they phoned me that afternoon and booked me in the next day for an excision biopsy which came back positive for SCC. Met my surgeon, had my op on the 17th October, it only took a couple of hours! It feels strange. The first few days in hospital wasn't easy, you've had a large part of the back of your tongue removed, stitches everywhere scratching your epiglottis and making you gag, you can't talk, you in no way can swallow, you've got a feeding tube up your nose and down your throat, and an enthusiastic team of newbies doing meerkat impressions around your bed. My after-care was faultless, I can't thank the nurses enough! I'm recovering rapidly, the stitches are still there and will be for another couple of weeks, yes my speech has been affected but I'm confident that with practice it'll sound better. I'm still very restricted in swallowing stuff, but small spoons in small amounts regularly, sips of liquids, improving daily. My energy is starting to trickle back, I hadn't realised just how tired I've been over the last 18 months while this thing has been growing in me, it's been cut out and I can feel the difference, sounds hokey but it's true! So, to summarize, it's hard, but it's nowhere near as bad as you think it's going to be! xxxxx