Taste: As mad as a box of frogs

I used to cook for my family.  After the 2007 tonsil cancer w/ radiation and chemo - I stopped cooking.  Eventually, I started cooking again!  Big meals, new recipes, things I was scared to make before.  When we visited my mother-in-law - we bring stuff with us to make great meals (she is now in an apartment - and doesn't have many of the cooking stuff she used to).

It probably took well over a year to get to that point - where I wanted to cook, and food tasted good again, and I had the energy.

Fast forward to 2013.  I started having lots of troube swallowing - big pills were tough, as were bread and meat.  I still cooked for my family.  Although I couldn't eat much there was still the social aspect of meals that I still enjoyed.  But, by the end of September, I could only whisper.  Now, I couldn't eat, and I couldn't talk.  What was the point of cooking or even sitting down with my family for a meal.

Now, the middle of 2014. After another cancer episode that left me without my larynx, I am getting back into cooking again.  The surgery in January rebuilt my esophagus, and the wonders of the Electro Larynx lets me speak again.  My energy is still lacking - and I will only cook (even simple meals) on the days I do not work.

I went on vacation in August a visited family and friends.  On the last night with my sister, I cooked dinner for all of us.  At a friends house, I learned how to can, and make jam.

Today - I need to find a new recipe for Chicken thighs (finally cool enough to turn on the oven).  And, we will be going to an apple orchard later today to get lots of apples.  I need to find out what how to make apple butter, apple jelly, apple sauce, and anything else I can w/ my new hobby (canning).

I really miss smelling - so anything I can - someone else needs to open it for me to make sure it is good.  I avoid leftovers unless less that 24-hours old.  And I haven't really enjoyed a good hamburger for years. (my jaw sometimes hurts opening my mouth real wide from the 2007 cancer).

You will get there!  It will be a slow process - and one day - boom, your tastebuds will be back.    For me, it happened overnight - probably 3 months after treatment.  I had been drinking a sports drink that had potassium.  Better than trying to get the pills down, or getting an IV.  One night I drank it like I should.  The next morning I drank some more, and discovered then just how nasty tasting that drink was.  What a shock!

Patience - get lots of sleep and eat what you can to keep your energy up.  Maybe avoid food in a can and using actually metal utensils.  Use plastic when you can.  You might find you can stomach some of the food better that way.

Lorna

2007 & 2014

I am 2 years post rad and the taste returned (almost) completely. I don’t have any troubles eating, except that I need to sip water with some drier foods.

3 weeks into radiation and a month after, there was no taste (well, even worse, everything tasted bad). Taste started to came back in small steps.  In my case the first to reappear was the taste for salt (1 month post radiation). 2 months post radiation sour taste came back, followed (after another month) by bitter. Taste for sweet took much longer, started to come back 6 months after radiation and much better after a year. I also experienced taste “fatigue” meaning that even when the taste came back, the first few months I felt it only during the first 2-3 bites, then faded away quickly. Later on, the taste was gradually more persistent.

Everyone is different, same old saying. I got lucky and did not lose tastebuds for much time. Nor did I get much offtastes, just disappeared and that led to loss of any joy of eating. Eating becomes a chore and slow too with all the side effects still lingering.

Mine bounced back quickly, some take longer. All you can do is make yourself eat as much as you can and supplement when you are short. There is no way to predict the "new normal" so just hang in there knowing it will get better.