Burkett asked: Should I back up any particular files before doing "emerge =sys-kernel/gentoo-sources-2.6.22-r2"? You will simply be restoring the bits that depclean removed.
No files should need to backed up. After the emerge you should be able to restart the emerge -eav world without problems with "no make file". It would be good for you to post the results of eselect kernel list
