Hi Patrick,

Welcome to OCF and thank you for sharing your experience. I am sorry to hear of the difficulties in your recovery. Although I did not go through the same procedure (I had 50% of my tongue removed, rebuilt, and radiation, no chemo in 2020), I can share that my recovery took many months and food and flavors took years to come back. My saliva has never fully recovered. I do remember early months waking up with a completely dry mouth and it felt like my tongue was Velcro'd to the roof of my mouth.

Journaling, both written and video, helped me. I would get down thinking my recovery was not improving, then I would watch an old video or read my old entries and realize I had come a lot farther than I thought. I did have to learn to look month to month as I got further out from treatment.

Please keep us up to date, stay safe, and keep the faith.

Nels