Hello Kazy. I have met only one young person who had this cancer. She found it very difficult until she found another young person online who had been through the process and could understand and advise her. There have been a few on this site.
I find eating hard too. Liquids and shakes are fine but chewing and manipulating is very hard. I eat a lot of ice cream and custard (not so good for me) but also enjoy vegetables. I mash them up with a potato masher and cover them with gravy or white sauce. I'm not a great cook, I buy packets of gravy. I'm not too fond of porridge but I soak oatmeal overnight with some raisins and fruit, then microwave it briefly, it tastes really good, like a sort of muesli.
Smoothies are an opportunity to experiment. Nut and soya milks are cheap here at the moment and I love coconut milk. I did read however that these milks are not very nutritious. Not sure of this. I have finally acquired a powerful blender and make sure I add Brazil nuts (selenium) as well as adding the odd spinach and kale leaves. Every couple of days I force myself to down a spinach smoothie.
Meat is hard. I don't like purees. But frozen pasta meals have very fine ground meat that I can swallow. My favourite is Weight Watcher's Beef Cannelloni. Eggs? I just don't like them now but try to have a few a week.
How does the taste bud sensitivity manifest itself? Do spicy things burn?
Good luck. We are here to support you:)