J.S.
My son had this procedure earlier this year, and he is 4. I will be honest...it was a bit harder than I thought. He had some goofey juice beforehand, and he was given gas during the procedure (he was officially out). The problem was when he woke up. He came out of the gas really fast & wasn't aware of anything except the pain. Once the nurse got some pain meds in him, he was better.
We also made the focus to be his new tongue and not the procedure itself. We only asked about the procedure a couple of times, and I don't think he remembers it at all. We also videotaped him doing a lot of stuff with his new tongue...like touching the top of his teeth. I also went & got a cookie cake for him the next day that had a pic of a tongue (like the Rolling Stones) that said, "Congrats on Your New Tongue!" He loved it!