I've had oral squamous cell cancer twice, radiation & chemo first time, surgery the last time(I hope).

The first time, after chemo, I had no problems eating.

After surgery, I had a peg, hated it, squirt it in, barf it up.
Relearned to swallow a little, probably not get much better at it, lifetime of slurpies & puree's.
Ah well, at least I'm cancer free.

Reason I posted, all the things I've tried, 3/4 of tongue is leg muscle, so taste is no longer much of a sense, can taste salt, sugar & sour, spice is no longer a good thing, imagine some of you have already found this to be true.
Just started boxed soups like organic roasted red pepper and tomato, to puree packaged green salads!
It's really great, and healthy too.
Also stumbled on strange combo's, like canned pears & carrot salad w/rasins, have fun just make small batches, so if the worst happens, you don't have guilt about throwing out large portions.

on that subject, a good small blender is $20 Hamilton Beach 51101B Blender.

It's your life, enjoy living it.