Hi Ken - I am so sorry to hear that the IMRT did not do the job it was supposed to.
Recovery is different for everyone - I know you know that. You might be able to predict how you'll recover based on how you've recovered thus far. If you're able to go for walks and have worked your way back to activity since your IMRT then that's a good indication of how you'll recover after surgery.

The thing about radiation is that it's a long slow insult to the body - it takes a good while to recover. Surgery is quick and so the body isn't typically "down" for too long and so recovery may be more rapid. You'll feel like hell for a short time and likely get better at a good pace once you're body gets over the initial trauma from the surgery - the body is an amazing thing!

So, your ability to walk may come faster than your ability to talk. I'm a speech therapist and can tell you that the talking will likely be a big problem for the first little while. You might feel better prepared if you go see a speech therapist now before your surgery - he/she will be able to give a fairly good idea of what to expect - even better, they'll already know you so they can make sure to see you within hours after your surgery - especially since you may not know until you're done whether or not the surgeon could spare your larynx.

I'm sure you know this as well, but I want you to be prepared - you will not be able to talk after your surgery - have a pen and paper system ready to go so you can communicate. You CAN regain your speech skills after both procedures but it'll take a while, it'll hurt, it'll be hard and it will be frustrating. If you lose your larynx you can learn how to produce voice (after you've healed) by using other muscles in your throat - so don't think that losing your larynx means you'll never talk again -you won't produce voice the same way but there are ways to compensate-in fact the speech therapist who helped me after my surgery had a laryngectomy herself- most people wouldn't even have been able to tell! There is a lot that you can do as you recover to rehabilitate - as a therapist I've had to push patients to participate in treatment - before this it made me wonder why I had to push them - didn't they want to get better? So, now that I've had my turn in the hospital bed, I can tell you that there are some days you might not want to get better - getting better was the hardest thing I ever did - and even now I can't beleive I did it. Your path will be a challenging one - but you can get better!
Hang in there as best you can! That's all you can do!