Chef, I know the feeling, surgery is never any fun & loosing a bit of your ability to taste & smell is a horrable thing for us in our line of work, well your work & my retirement , , last November I had a minor procedure that turned into a major problem & a long hospital stay, & my sence of smell & my taste buds did take a big hit, I am just starting to get back the taste & hope the smell will be soon, not that it was gone, but old things I had stored in the memorie bank didnt taste or smell the same, I needed to establish a new base line for my tastes & smell & relearning some thing I have been doing all my life is prooving to be a little tuff, good thing I am retired or I might have been out of a job for a few months instead of a few weeks . I dont want to scare you , just know that we are with you & have been there & done it , you will get past it with out a problem.
I worked with an Air Force Vet that had NO sence of smell or taste , he got sprayed with rocket fuel & almost passed when he was in the Air Force, well it left him with out any sence of smell or taste at all he he was working as one of my line cooks , didnt know the difference in taste between salt & sugar, but he could work the broiler like a champ, just dont ask him to make a sauce or soup ! the bad thing about it was he didnt know if smoething was bad or not, as time went on he did get some of his taste back & the smell came back a little in a few months after he quit & took a job in the Heating & A/C business , I wanted him to come back but he was working days not evenings & making almost the same amount of $$$ , but now he could go out & in his words " Chase Broads " at night , not stand in front of the broiler all night , he could get HOT in his own way !!!
Good luck !!!
Enjoy, Vince