Hi again Dianne,
My return to what they call the new normal here took a little longer however now I am able to eat most things luckily and other than what sounds like a slight lisp my speech is fine. At least that is what others tell me. I did speech therapy a few times and found it helpful. Now I practice on my cockatiel (of the parrot family). I talk a lot but at 6 months old he/she has not started yet but at least understands most of what I say (like hello, shut up good boy etc.).
After the 2nd week I was eating things like thin porridge, custards and the like and would blend lots of different fruits in season to make smoothies.
It is a good idea to get a stick blender which is very cheap and easy to clean.
One of the things that helped pass the time when I got home other than watching TV was inventing different recipes that I was able to eat. You will find a whole lot of posts here where people have added their recipes. Let me know if you cannot find it and I will send the link. After around 1 month I was up to working from home for part of the day even though I was in contact via email even from the hospital on my Blackberry. Sorry but as you can see from my profile I am in IT and I did have this luxury available to me.
One thing I did do before my operation was buy a small children�s white board to write on and erase for communicating not only with friends and family but nursing staff and doctors. You mention you will have a tracheotomy as I did and this at least will allow you to communicate. Pen and paper will do just as well. Again..let me know if I can add more.
I am happy to give you a call and have a chat if you would like.
Gabriele