Surgery sounds Radical and Scary to me

I went for my saliva scan and test on Friday. What we have to do when we have been diagnosed with such a horrible disease. First off I was not allowed to swallow saliva for 5 minutes, then she swabbed my tongue with lemon and I had to repeat the 5-minute thing again.
I was then taken to a room where saliva scans are taken. Had pictures of my glands taken for about ½ hour. Half way through he told me he was going to squirt strong lemon water into my mouth twice and I was to swish it around in my mouth and swallow. Anyhow after he told me he could not tell me about the lemon water beforehand cause it would make my saliva work hard and he would not be able to get a comparison. He even actually apologized for not telling me before hand. These tests will be done again just before I start treatment, after treatment and 6 months down the road.
These tests are done for the “Submandbular Salivary Gland Transfer. They will move my gland on the left towards the centre of my chin, and they will shield this gland from radiation during my treatment. In the end this will give me more saliva for swallowing chewing, speaking etc. The gland on my right side will be removed, as they are pretty sure it is diseased.
So with this transfer trial they also use the IMRT which will protect the Parotid salivary gland for radiation exposure.
Anyhow any of my head and neck buddies who are having troubles with saliva, THINK LEMONS, LEMONS, LEMONS!!!!! Maybe it will help to get those saliva glands working!!

So this surgery I am having is a bit more serious then I was prepared for. Or maybe it is scarier when the doctor actually explains it as to researching it off the Internet. My date is booked for February 18, but he said there is a good chance he will be able to move it up.
I am told that it is a 12 to 15 hour surgery, YIKES! It is actually a few small surgeries wrapped up in one major surgery. The first part includes a radical tonsillectomy, modified radical neck dissection, and the Submanbular Salivary Gland Transer. The second part is to reconstruct everything. He will be taking the skin grafts from the inside of my arm and wrist. Anyhow I am scared stiff about this all!!
He said they will be doing a tracheomtry, and I will have a feeding tube up my nose. He said he won’t do a peg tube unless it is needed for the surgery part and after. He said that the best way is to try hard to swallow from the beginning. Basically what he said was “ if you don’t use it, you lose it!” (Swallowing, that is). He also said that I won’t have the issue with the dry mouth because of the trial I am involved in. Anyhow he did say I may need it for treatment and he will install one if I find it to hard on me.
Also he said they will not let me go home until I can swallow, eat, talk, etc. He told me I would be in the hospital for at least 2 weeks. And all the therapists will work me hard to get me back to normal.

So please friends tell me this is normal please and tell me it won’t be as bad as it looks!!! I am scared stiff! What we have to go through!! I wonder if things will ever be “normal” again. And thank you for letting me vent !!!
Valerie