Back in mid-June, just a couple weeks after my first round of chemo, my Taste Buds went completely AWOL and my sense of smell went wonky as well. 

 

As far as the sense of smell is concerned every smell was amplified and lingered for minutes to hours after one would have expected it to dissipate. There were several times each day when saline needed to be injected and that would also cause a sensation of smell that I can only describe as a milder version of the smell of salt marshes in the outer banks in North Carolina that we once drove through. It was truly fascinating yet a bit bizarre, but thankfully not nauseating or distasteful. To me, anyway. And that all continued pretty much into November when it finally subsided. Interestingly, when I received the stem cell transplant (which was all packaged and directly injected) the smell was almost like pureed tomato and it lasted for 2-3 days, slowly fading out. But that's not nearly as interesting as ..... 

 

Taste. Starting in mid June everything tasted either like wax or like cardboard. Yes, you've heard that all before and now here's the rest of the story. For months the only palatable things were yogurt, Ensure, ice cream, and sweet drinks like Gatorade, Powerade, and some times hot chocolate. There was actually a hint of improvement just before going for transplant and the chemo associated with that took things right back to where they were, 'temporarily' defective.

 

Following that as noted, my taste buds went AWOL again for a couple months. When they started to come back around it was odd, some things started to taste OK but tasted totally different from what they 'should' have tasted, different from what they used to taste like. And the next day or a few days later that taste might be altered again. Don't get me wrong, some things still tasted like wax and others like cardboard, but every few days something new would be palatable that wasn't just days or weeks before. It felt like being a kid again when Mom would ask that you take a taster-bite of something before deciding whether to eat it or not. I had to take a LOT of bites of many things and find out what they tasted like today. Again, it was as fascinating as it was maddening. Much like an on-going experiment (gone wrong!).

 

I wrote before about just how emotional it was the very first time something tasted 'right', just a simple cinnamon raisin bagel with cream cheese. I fully expected to take my taster bite and toss it because bagels and cream cheese were still tasting like wax just the week before, they hadn't even reached the palatable-but-wrong stage. It hit like the proverbial ton-of-bricks that it had jumped so quickly from wax to 'normal' that it completely overwhelmed me. That first one was the .... hardest? strongest? craziest? reaction but there have been others nearly as potent. Like the first time Smokey Legend tasted 'right' as in a whole meal. That was the first full meal that tasted right, a few weeks after the bagel. But up until recently there was still a genuine problem ...... 

 

..... coffee. That was lost back in June and still out of whack until just the recent weeks when it started to come back. At first I could drink about 1/3rd of a mug and enjoy it, then the taste buds changed their mind and the rest was undrinkable. Then about a week ago after I abstained for a couple weeks it cam back to me and now I can manage to drink it. The curious part is that the smell is still completely off until I take that first sip. If I didn't anticipate the flavor the smell would keep me from ever giving it a try. And as that goes, my nose is still well behind the taste buds in recovering but there's something else you need to know ..... 

 

.... taste. It is still coming back bit by but but to-date it is different. I've never been a picky eater but like anyone there are a few things that are unpalatable, some things that taste good and some things that taste great. As taste comes back there are some things that used to be OK that are now YUM! Cheese curls were always something that was OK but really no big deal. Now they're a big addictive deal, they just taste so good. Same with hot tea, hot chocolate, and Ginger Ale/Ginger beer. This has been a fascinating and, at times, infuriating reminder that there's a reason behind why different folk prefer different foods. Everyone has their own individual set of taste buds and taste is a purely personal thing. If someone has different tastes or different preparation preferences it ain't like the cooking shows where there's one supposed BEST way to enjoy something, the truth is that the BEST way is best for some, not for others and I've had the unique (ongoing) opportunity to personally experience how taste can be so very different from one tongue to the next. Or at least from the taste buds on one to the next. Or the changing taste buds on one weird tongue, whatever. 

 

Now on to see what's next in the taste odyssey, it's gonna be a trip! And then there's the smell thing .... but that's a story for another day.