Hi Tom,
Welcome..you have now become a member of a very exclusive club!! (I know it was not the one you've always wanted to join)
Sounds like you are very upbeat and as you said, stubborn, not going to let this slow you down. Good for you!!
You will find all kinds of great and informative information about almost anything you can think of relating to OC on this site if you take the time to read current and past threads.
Any time you post many of the wonderful people here will give you advice, opinion and experience. So post away.
Now the nuts and bolts...and my opinion.
The exercises to prevent trismus. You will need to do them until you have strengthened the muscles and your range of motion (ROM) in your jaw returns to or close to normal. Trismus is like a muscle spasm that can be very painful in some individuals. It becomes more frequent when a muscle is injured or works beyond what it is capable of. Like going to the gym the more you strengthen the muscles of your jaw and neck the less trismus you should experience.
Taste. This depends on the individual and how much tissue was removed if you had surgery and as well how much damage the radiation did to the remaining taste buds. It should get better over time and sometimes will return all most completely.
I'm glad you mentioned the water, keep hydrated.
Fluoride trays will help protect your teeth now that your saliva flow is impaired. There is a current thread in the "After Treatment Issues", that discusses this issue and would be an informative read for you.
I am a little bit concerned about your weight loss. Do you consult a dietician/nutritionist? BMI is not always a good indicator of the health a person is in. The lack of a PEG tube doesn't concern me but, I want you to make sure that you are getting the proper amount of nutrition (vitamins, minerals etc.) to support your immune system, healing and your level of activity. I am impressed that you are perservering and exercising, really your level of activity is quite impressive. I'd love to have the 32 inch waist back too!
My prayers are with you in your healing process.
If I can be of any help let me know.
Cheers,
Mike