Hi Mike
Welcome to OCF! I am so sorry to read of your cancer and your recovery problems. I have some similarities to your experience and will offer some insights. I was diagnosed stage 4 tongue SCC in March 2020. Surgery April 1, 2020 and finished radiation July 8, 2020. Found cancer in one lymph node but it was still inside the node so no chemo only radiation. All check-ups and scans clear since then.
Surgery consisted of removing the right half of my tongue and all nodes on the right side of my neck. Recovery was rough but I could see improvement every couple days or so. Radiation was much slower. It was slower to impact me and slower to recover. I learned to judge my recovery from that in weeks/months. I would journal daily to track my recovery, food, exercise, practice speech by calling family and friends every day, meditation, prayer, etc. Occasionally, I would go back and read from a couple weeks ago and realize I had come further than I thought.
I was eventually able to eat most foods again (avoid the spicier stuff) and speak without much of a lisp. Food took years. Some foods came back in a couple months such as the softer/wetter foods/less flavorful. I had to be very patient with saliva. This has never returned fully and I was told never will. But, I can now eat crackers and other relatively dry items with water or just patience. I probably have about half my normal saliva. Total guess, not sure how to even measure that!
My work is not as physical as yours so that was easier for me to do part time from home and eventually come back to the shop full time. I did get active again soon as possible. I was walking around the hospital halls and dancing in my hospital room alone after surgery. Soon as I got home, walks were 1-2x per day. Eventually, feeding tube removed, I was able to jog about a mile. We just kept adding a little more. Today, I am as physical as ever. Did a marathon a couple years ago with one of my sons!
Happy to offer insights to anything else and hope this helps.
Stay safe and keep the faith,
Nels